Ofir Akunis, Consul General of Israel in New York, spoke to CBS News New York's Marcia Kramer on "The Point" amid heightened fears of an attack by Iran in the Middle East.

Akunis stressed that Hamas started the war by invading Israel and added that Hamas was invited by the US, Egypt and Qatar to come to negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage release deal, but Hamas refused to even attend.

“The problem is the existence of a cruel and vicious organization like Hamas in the Gaza Strip. And [the war will continue] until we defeat them, and it’s very close,” he added.

Akunis said there “is still much more” that needs to be done before a ceasefire is achieved. “Hamas wants us to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and from the Philadelphi Corridor because they want to continue to attack Israel from the Gaza Strip. We will not allow a second October 7.”

“The last tunnel we found there is at least as big as the Lincoln Tunnel here in New York. And their tunnels are as long as the tube in London. We cannot accept this,” he stressed.

“We withdrew from the Gaza Strip, including Philadelphi, including the northern parts of Gaza, and they attacked Israel from those areas. We must learn from history,” said Akunis.

On a possible Iranian attack in retaliation for the elimination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh and whether there is any concern in Israel that an attack is coming, Akunis replied, “They are doing it every day. All the missiles from Lebanon are actually from Iran. So this is an Iranian attack…I heard even here in the United States, that the missile that killed 12 innocent kids and teenagers wasn’t a Hezbollah missile. Well, of course it wasn’t a Hezbollah missile. It was an Iranian missile and Hezbollah uses it…so, the Iranians are doing it all the time. If you’re asking me if they’re going to do it from Iran - we are ready. We are not afraid. They can threaten. We are ready to defend our people in various ways.”