Netanyahu speaks of Hamas plans to attack before elections
Radicals from the Palestinian movement Hamas may try to attack Israel again ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for the end of October.
That assertion was made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He made the statement during a government meeting ahead of the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attack. The prime minister's remarks were distributed by his office. Netanyahu expressed the view that over this time Israel has become the strongest country in the Middle East, while its opponents are now weaker than ever.
"It is precisely because Hamas is so weak that it will try to challenge us with its remaining forces before the elections, in order to try to influence their outcome," Netanyahu claimed.
"We are ready for this. First of all, we will thwart such attempts, and in any case, if they make this mistake, we will respond with crushing force," he added.
On the morning of October 7, 2023, armed members of Hamas and other Palestinian groups invaded Israeli territory from Gaza. Their incursion was accompanied by the killing of residents of border communities and the seizure of about 250 hostages. The radicals called the attack a response to the actions of the Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel announced a complete blockade of Gaza and began launching retaliatory strikes on it and on individual areas of Lebanon and Syria, after which it began a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave, the active phase of which continued intermittently for almost two years.
On October 9, 2025, Israel and Hamas, through the mediation of Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and Turkey, agreed on the implementation of the first stage of the peace plan presented by U.S. President Donald Trump. The following day, a ceasefire took effect in the Gaza Strip.
In accordance with the agreement, Israeli troops withdrew to the so-called yellow line, retaining control over more than 50% of the enclave's territory. The second phase of the deal envisages the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave, the deployment of international stabilization forces, and the start of work by new structures to govern the sector, but to move to this stage Israel demands that Hamas units first be completely disarmed, which has not yet happened.
Source: TASS
