Netanyahu remains confident of victory on anniversary of massacre

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his country's determination to fight in a video message during the official commemoration of the October 7 massacre's anniversary on Monday.

"Together we will continue to fight, and together - with God's grace - we will triumph," he said in a video message. The ceremony took place in Ofakim, near the Gaza Strip, where 40 people were murdered a year ago.

He stated that October 7, when the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement and other extremists killed around 1,200 people in Israel and abducted about 250 others to the Gaza Strip, was "a day of indescribable suffering for the country."

The conservative politician asserted that the Israelis had united for the defence of the country.

"We have set the war objectives and we are achieving them," he said. He said these objectives were to dismantle Hamas' rule, bring all hostages home, make any future threat from the Gaza Strip impossible, and ensure the safe return of residents from the south and north to their homes.

However, after a year of war with nearly 42,000 dead in the Gaza Strip and growing international criticism of Israel's harsh actions in the coastal strip - and now also in Lebanon - none of the war objectives mentioned by Netanyahu have been completely achieved so far.