Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday visited the northern Gaza Strip together with Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, Head of Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor, and division and brigade commanders.

The Prime Minister received a security briefing from the area commanders on the intensive IDF activity to free the hostages and defeat Hamas in Gaza.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz then spoke with division, brigade and battalion commanders, as well as with reservist and conscript fighters, and emphasized the importance of continuing the military pressure on the Hamas terrorist organization.

The Prime Minister's Chief-of-Staff Tzachi Braverman, National Security Council Director Tzachi Hanegbi, the Prime Minister's Military Secretary Maj.-Gen. Roman Gofman and the Prime Minister's Spokesperson Dr. Omer Dostri, accompanied the visit.

"I am here with the Defense Minister, IDF commanders, our conscript fighters, and our amazing reservists," Netanyahu began. "They are doing marvelous work in the Gaza Strip. They are striking the enemy – and Hamas is taking more and more blows."

"We insist that our hostages be released and we insist on achieving all of our objectives for the war, and are doing so thanks to our heroic fighters. They are simply doing amazing work."

He continued, "I would like to tell you what we are fighting for and why we are fighting: It is a post issued by the tyrant of Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei, today, in which he explains why Israel must be destroyed. He did this during the negotiations with the Americans."

"We are fighting for our existence. We are fighting for our future."

Defense Minister Katz added: "I am here together with the Prime Minister, and IDF commanders and soldiers, who are doing fantastic work."

"This position that we are in overlooks Gaza. It is a blow to the terrorists' heads, strikes the infrastructure of terrorism, and – at the same time – protects the Israeli communities. This is the way we do things and these are our lessons.

"We will never allow such an enemy to threaten our communities and our citizens. Therefore, the current operation is pressuring Hamas, first of all, in order to release our hostages; the more it persists in its refusal, we will intensify the blows that is taking until it is defeated and until the return of the hostages."