Netanyahu delivers message to tens of thousands of IDF reservists being called up

Netanyahu: “What began in Gaza will end in Gaza.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is entering “the decisive stage” of its war against Hamas, speaking in a video message to Israel Defense Forces soldiers as preparations intensify for a ground assault on Gaza City.

“We are working to defeat Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “Along the way, we also achieved wonders together because we broke the Iranian axis — in Gaza, in Lebanon with Hezbollah, with the Assad regime that collapsed, and with Iran itself, which threatened us with existential threats which we removed together, and now also with the Houthis.”

“But what began in Gaza must end in Gaza,” he added.

Netanyahu reflected on the course of the fighting, saying his government had made “very difficult decisions — decisions no one believed we could actually carry out. But we carried them out because you gave us — and me — the strength to move Israel toward total victory.”

“Now we stand before the stage of decision. I believe in you, I trust you, and the entire nation embraces you,” he said.

His remarks came as the IDF initiated the largest single call-up of reservists since the early days of the war nearly two years ago.

Approximately 60,000 reservists were slated to be drafted in multiple waves, with 40,000–50,000 ordered to report on Tuesday, just after the start of the school year.

The mobilization will see reservists away from home during the Jewish High Holidays. They will undergo training and preparation in the coming days, and some will replace regular forces positioned in northern Israel and Judea and Samaria.

Last month, Netanyahu announced that Israel would take control of Gaza as part of its goal to eliminate Hamas and return all of the hostages.

Israeli forces have already launched smaller operations in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood and the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp—sites of earlier large-scale raids during the war, where Hamas fighters later managed to regroup.

The army said it intends to expand into areas where ground troops have not yet entered and where Hamas is believed to retain both military presence and governing control.