The prime minister claimed that the presence of hostages and the malign influence of Iran are responsible for the apparent intractability of the conflict
September 15, 2025 08:26
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected allegations that he has extended the Gaza War for political purposes during a rare long-form interview
Critics of the premier have long alleged that he is trying to prolong the war in order to serve his own interests, particularly shoring up electoral support for his coalition and staving off his own trial for corruption.
But, comparing the conflict to the US-led takeover of Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004, Netanyahu told Channel 13: "This question and its premise are bad-natured and false.
"How long did it take to win in Fallujah? Nine months.
"For nine months, the whole world took on 3,000 terrorists in a place that is far less complex than Gaza....we are conducting this war with challenges that nobody else has.
"This is a war with hostages. When there are hostages, you are careful, you do ceasefires."
He also framed the Gaza War as part of a much wider battle to rid the region of Iran's malign influence.
"The moment this war began, I said on its second day that we would change the face of the Middle East," he went on.
"We are not only fighting Hamas — we are fighting the whole Iranian axis, of which Hamas is only one part.
"First of all, we tended to Hamas, we had to enter Rafah and take control of the Philadelphi [Corridor], then move to the north and do the pager [operation] and eliminate Hezbollah and advance, and as a result, [the rule of Syria’s Bashar] al-Assad fell.
"All these stages in effect took apart the Iranian axis as they had been preparing it to eliminate Israel."
The full interview is set to air this evening as part of a programme on June's 12-day war against Iran.
Elsewhere, though, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir is reported to have expressed frustration at the progress of the war while giving evidence to the Knesset.
Leaked transcripts of his testimony to the Subcommittee for Intelligence and Secret Services, as reported by Ynet, suggest that he claimed Netanyahu was keeping military leadership in the dark about the plans for the future of Gaza.
"The prime minister is not telling us what comes next, we don’t know what to prepare for,” he reportedly told the committee during a private briefing on Friday.
"If they want a military government, then they should say military government.”
Zamir is also understood to have expressed similar concerns during recent cabinet meetings.
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