Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Gaza Strip, where he spoke with soldiers and visited one of the discovered tunnels, the BBC reports. As The Guardian reports, US President Joe Biden once again stated that the decision to create two states is the only thing that can bring peace to both Israelis and Palestinians.

Benjamin Netanyahu in the Gaza Strip among Israeli soldiersPhoto: Government of Israel (GPO) / Hando / AFP / Profimedia

“We are here in Gaza with our heroic fighters. We are making every effort to return the abducted, and eventually we will return them all,” Netanyahu said.

According to him, one of Israel’s goals remains the elimination of the Hamas organization.

“We have three goals in this war: to destroy Hamas, to return all our abductees, and to make sure that Gaza does not again become a threat to the State of Israel,” the Israeli prime minister said.

He assured that Israel will fight “until victory”.

“I am here to say to my friends here, to the fighters here who are telling me the same thing, and I repeat it to you, the citizens of Israel: we continue to the end, to victory. Nothing will stop us, and we are convinced that we have the power, the strength, the will and the determination to achieve all the objectives of the war, and we will do it,” Netanyahu said.

Joe Biden: “A two-state solution is the only way to guarantee long-term security for both Israelis and Palestinians”

Joe Biden repeated his calls for a two-state solution in his speech on Sunday night.

“A two-state solution is the only way to guarantee long-term security for both Israelis and Palestinians, to ensure that Israelis and Palestinians alike live in equal measure of freedom and dignity. We will not stop working towards this goal,” Biden said.

According to him, the goal of the US now is to continue the truce between Israel and Hamas, which began on Friday and continues for five days.

“Nothing is guaranteed and nothing is taken for granted, but proof that it works (p. ed.: armistice) in every smile and every tear we see on the faces of those families who are finally reunited. Little Abigail is the proof. More than 20 children over the age of 18 were released… They faced a terrible ordeal. Now I can start a long journey,” said Joe Biden.

On Sunday, 17 hostages taken by Hamas (including a Russian citizen and a four-year-old girl with dual US-Israeli citizenship) were freed in the third prisoner exchange.

In exchange, Israel agreed to release 39 Palestinians from prisons.

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