In an interview with FRANCE 24, Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid reacted to Hamas's surprise attack on Israel from Gaza. The incursion, which killed hundreds of Israelis, is being called "Israel's 9/11". Hundreds of Palestinians living in Gaza have been killed in retaliatory Israeli air strikes. Asked how he saw the situation playing out, Lapid said "the endgame is, there will be no Hamas in Gaza".
"If you want to look at sad statistics, apparently this (October 7) is the worst day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust," Lapid said.
While acknowledging that the "vicious terror" attacks amounted to a major intelligence failure for Israel, he said Israel's priority was to focus on "eliminating all terror capabilities that Hamas have".
"The endgame is, there will be no Hamas in Gaza," he declared.
Lapid added: "My view would be that the Palestinian Authority should take over Gaza as it did before (...) but there are still many unknowns. Right now, what we are determined to do is just making sure there will be no Hamas and no Hamas capabilities in Gaza because they will not make us future victims. Enough is enough. What happened will not happen again."
The Israeli opposition leader claimed that Hamas killed innocent people not because they want a Palestinian state, but because "they want an Islamic territory going all around the world".
Lapid stressed that Israel was not interested in a regional conflict with Lebanon or Iran, adding that warnings had been conveyed to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
He said he supported the decision by Israel's defence minister to impose a complete siege of Gaza, cutting off food and electricity for its 2.2 million residents. Rejecting UN criticism of the siege, he said "Hamas are to be blamed".
Lapid concluded by saying: "We need a two-state solution (...) I still believe it is possible and this is also in the best interests of the State of Israel."
