GAZA: Benjamin Netanyahu said the bombardment of Gaza “will not stop” until Israeli forces are completely victorious in their aims, Al Jazeera reports.

Amid reports that Israel’s military is moving to a less-intensive form of combat in Gaza, Netanyahu said Israeli forces “will continue to fight with full force until we achieve all of our goals”.

“I say this again so that no one will be in doubt: We are striving for total victory, not just ‘to strike Hamas’ or ‘to hurt Hamas’, not ‘another round with Hamas’, but total victory over Hamas,” he said in a heated speech, extracts of which were released later in a statement.

“We will not stop. We will not finish the war before returning our loved ones home; we will not finish the war before total victory,” he said. Netanyahu used the term “total victory” eight times in his speech.

There is “no way” to solve Israel’s long-term security challenges in the region and the short-term challenges of rebuilding Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has said according to Reuters.

Speaking at a news briefing, Miller said Israel has an opportunity right now as countries in the region are ready to provide security assurances to Israel.

“But there is no way to solve their long-term challenges to provide lasting security and there is no way to solve the short-term challenges of rebuilding Gaza and establishing governance in Gaza and providing security for Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Miller said.