Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Wednesday that his country was “on the offensive,” warning that “any member of Hamas is a dead man,” AFP reported.

“Hamas is Daesh and we will crush and destroy them as the world destroyed Daesh,” he added in his first joint inauguration speech with members of his military cabinet, formed later that day.

Benjamin Netanyahu and his opposition rival Benny Gantz announced they had agreed to form an emergency government and military cabinet for the duration of the conflict, four days after an unprecedented and bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel.

In his statement, the Prime Minister of Israel for the first time clearly stated Israel’s intention to “destroy” Hamas.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant followed suit, declaring that “we will wipe Hamas off the face of the earth.”

“I saw little children tied up and shot in the head, people burned alive, young girls raped and killed, soldiers beheaded (…). In one place they gathered people, brought tires and gasoline and burned them alive,” Netanyahu said.

“We fight to ensure our survival. We will defeat (these) human animals,” he also declared in the Knesset on Monday.

“We will storm every village in Israel to take them under our control. We will launch a massive attack on Hamas. And we will expand our deployment to the northern border and throughout Israel. I will send all the security services,” he said.

“We will strengthen unity in people’s hearts. When we are united, we win. Leaders must unite. I call on the leaders of the opposition to join us, as it was in the Six-Day War of 1967,” he demanded.

“Images of destruction in the Gaza Strip are just the beginning. Every place where Gaza operates will be a ruin,” he threatened.

“All our enemies will know that it was a mistake (to attack us),” he threatened, declaring his solidarity with the families of the victims.

“Difficult days await us, but we will win. Israel’s history is a history of faith and action,” Netanyahu declared.

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• Benjamin Netanyahu threatens that Israel’s response to Hamas attack will “change the Middle East”

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