In a televised address to Israeli settlers amid Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and the brutal Israeli aggression on Gaza that has so far killed hundreds of civilians and bombed civilian infrastructure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli government has put “every other consideration to the side” for illegal Israeli settlers.

In the address, in which he also announced the formation of an emergency government, Netanyahu threatened “every Hamas member” with death.

Netanyahu made a political agreement with Gantz, which involved the Prime Minister agreeing to temporarily suspend his government's judicial overhaul plan. However, his far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies will still be part of the government.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid has not joined this temporary coalition, although the joint statement mentioned that a place would be "reserved" for him in the war cabinet.

"Israel before anything else," Gantz wrote in a social media post while the far-right Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote that he "welcomes the unity, now we must win".

'Atrocity' allegations debunked

Netanyahu alleged that what Hamas carried out was worse than ISIS, claiming “evidence” that Hamas members committed war crimes. However, these allegations have been debunked. 

Oren Oziv, a journalist based in "Israel" and part of the group of journalists who were admitted into a media tour of the "Kfar Azza" settlement, denied reports of "Hamas beheading children." 

"During the tour, we didn’t see any evidence of this, and the army spokesperson or commanders also didn’t mention any such incidents," Oren Ziv said in a post on X. 

2/5 During the tour, journalists were allowed to speak to the hundreds of soldiers on site, without the supervision of the army's spokesperson team. I24 reporter said she heard it “from soldiers”. pic.twitter.com/IgHL8SBy8A

— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) October 11, 2023

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The story has been retracted by the LA Times, and the Israeli army has officially disowned it. 

Similarly, a correspondent of The Independent, Bel Trew, disowned the narrative in a post on X. 

"I just wanted to clarify that I did not tweet 40 babies had been beheaded. I tweeted that foreign media had been told women and children had been decapitated but we had not been shown bodies - which was my response to reports which had gone viral about the 40 babies. I realized the way my tweet was written was too short to explain the full context, so I deleted it. My headline of my story references that toddlers were killed."

I just wanted to clarify that I did not tweet 40 babies had been beheaded. I tweeted that foreign media had been told women and children had been decapitated but we had not been shown bodies - which was my response to reports which had gone viral about the 40 babies. I realised… pic.twitter.com/RMYBSJ8BhL

— Bel Trew (@Beltrew) October 11, 2023

Gallant: 'We will wipe out Hamas'

Similarly, Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant said in a televised statement alongside Netanyahu that Hamas would be “obliterated", alleging that Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was the “worst terror attack the world has ever seen.”

Gallant, during his televised statement, went on to say that “Hamas, Daesh of Gaza will be wiped from the face of the earth,” also calling the current developments one of the toughest hours “Israel” has ever known.

“Our partnership will lead to a clear victory, and will change the reality as we stand up to every challenge,” he said, further promising Israeli settlers that “Israel has the strongest army in the region.”

It is noteworthy that “Israel’s” ruthless bombing of the Gaza Strip has targeted hospitals and civilian infrastructure, killing hundreds of civilians.

Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a surgeon who recently arrived in the Gaza Strip from the UK to assist in humanitarian efforts, said he has seen "nothing like the absolute devastation" he has witnessed in the last 72 hours in al-Shifa Hospital, The Independent reported on Wednesday. 

"It’s like a tsunami of wounded people," Dr. Abu-Sittah told media from Gaza's largest medical hospital and complex, Al-Shifa. 

"As always with the war in Gaza, the percentage of children is much higher than in other conflicts because they are being targeted in their homes," said Dr. Abu-Sittah, adding that the Gaza population has an average age of 18 and that this youth is evident in their patient demographics, with children comprising as much as forty percent of the over 650 individuals treated at the hospital.

"The hospital itself is at capacity... around 30 to 40 percent of the wounded are children."