(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Monday, 28 July 2014), at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, issued the following statement:

"First, I would like to share in the grief of the families whose dear ones have fallen. They have fallen in defense of the nation and we all mourn their passing. There is no more just war than this one that our heroic sons are fighting. I would like to support the soldiers of the IDF who, even now, are continuing to operate inside the Gaza Strip against our enemies.

We knew that there would be difficult days; this has been a difficult and painful day. Patience and determination are needed in order to continue the struggle against a murderous terrorist organization that aspires to our destruction. We are, at present, continuing to take action to neutralize and strike at the terrorist tunnels. We will not complete the mission, we will not complete the operation, without neutralizing the tunnels, the sole purpose of which is the destruction of our civilians and the killing of our children. This is the clear and unequivocal objective of the State of Israel and the need for it has been apparent again today.

The operation against the tunnels is a first and necessary step in the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. The process of preventing the arming of the terrorist organization and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip must be part of any solution. The international community needs to demand this explicitly. Instead of the international community allowing funds to enter the Gaza Strip, via Hamas, for concrete and cement to serve in the unlimited construction of tunnels, there must be monitoring and supervision. In the past, when we raised these demands and these concerns of ours, we were not taken seriously. This has to change. It cannot be that citizens of the State of Israel will live under the deadly threats of missiles and infiltration through tunnels – death from above and death from below.

Hamas has violated every ceasefire proposal. We face a cruel enemy whose brutality is directed not only against us, against our civilians, but is also directed against his own civilians. It exploits their civilians in order for there to be more and more victims even as they send fire and death toward us."