Israel’s envoy to UAE says Hamas will be smashed

DUBAI, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Israel’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday that nothing would stop Israel from crushing Hamas.

Fighters from the Palestinian militant group stormed Israeli towns on Saturday in an assault launched from the Gaza enclave of Gaza, killing more than 1,000 Israelis – mostly civilians – and taking dozens hostage.

“We’ll do everything needed in order to make sure that those people will not threaten and will not hurt our citizens again,” Ambassador Amir Hayek told Reuters at the embassy in Abu Dhabi.

“We need to make sure that everyone will understand that if anyone will ever think about doing such things and putting Israeli citizens at risk, he will pay the full price and will not be able to do it again.”

Israel has placed Gaza, home to some 2.3 million Palestinians, under total seige and pounded the enclave with air strikes since the attack. Gaza’s health ministry said at least 770 Palestinians had been killed in the strikes.

The victims of the Hamas attacks were overwhelming civilians gunned down in their homes, on streets and at a dance party.

“I don’t know any sovereign country in the world that could have been in this situation and continuing things as usual without smashing the terrorists,” Hayek said.

“We are talking about kids, women, elderly people, families. These people have been murdered, not for something they did. But for what who they are.”

Israel’s enemies should not to “miscaluate the situation,” he said. “I can assure you that we will win.”

Asked about a Reuters report on Monday that Qatari mediators were seeking to negotiate freedom for Israelis taken hostage by Hamas in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli jails, Hayek said: “Israel is not negotiating with anyone.”

Hayek is Israel’s first ambassador to the UAE, which in 2020, along with Bahrain, normalised ties with Israel under a pact brokered by the United States, upending decades of Arab policy that sought a Palestinian state before normalisation.

(This story has been refiled to fix typographical errors in paragraphs 2 and 6)

Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Angus MacSwan

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