Prime Minister Netanyahu has claimed that Israelis would have "gone up in nuclear smoke" if he had ended the Gaza War earlier.
During a fiery Knesset clash with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, Netanyahu indicated that more Israeli lives would have been lost if he had ceded to opponents' demands for a ceasefire sooner.
The PM claimed that Hamas only agreed to the current deal due to the pressure exerted by the IDF's push to occupy Gaza City prior to the truce.
And he emphasised that no deal as favourable to Israel had been accepted by the terror group beforehand.
"At no stage – not six months ago, not a year ago, not a year and a half ago – at no stage was Hamas ready to accept the proposal that we attained now," he said.
"If I had listened to many of those in this hall, and outside it, you who called for me to stop the war, to surrender, to throw up my hands… If I had given in to these demands, the war would have ended with a crushing victory for Hamas and the entire Iranian axis.
"Peace is made with the strong, not the weak, and today everyone knows that Israel is a very strong country. A country that is stronger than ever.”
Several lawmakers were ejected from the chamber for heckling Netanyahu as he made the comments.
However, he also called to "lower the flames" of political debate, adding: "We know what a terrible catastrophe baseless hatred caused in our history."
For his part, Lapid hit back: "Who was prime minister on October 7? The Opposition?
"We bombed Iran. Who was the prime minister when Iran amassed its power?
"You talked about Iran but didn’t act. You can’t sell me stories."
And, referencing his brief stint as prime minister in 2022, he added: "I was in the Prime Minister’s Office; we opened the drawers to look for the plans, and there was nothing."
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