Jerusalem: On the country's ongoing war with Hamas, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lior Haiat has said that this is a war of self-defence after being attacked brutally.

Haiat said that Israel's goal in this war is to eliminate Hamas control and Hamas terrorism from the Gaza Strip.

"On October 7 Israel declared war against Hamas. This is a war of self-defence after being attacked brutally. Our goal in this war is to eliminate Hamas control and Hamas terrorism from the Gaza Strip," he said in a press conference virtually.

He said that the elimination of Hamas is a matter of survival now.

"It's a matter of survival because if we don't do that, Hamas will continue with other massacres one after the other. This is just not me saying that Hamas leadership is saying that they plan another October 7-like massacre one after the other...," the Israel Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

A senior member of Hamas hailed the attack it carried out in Israel on October 7 and stressed that if given a chance, the terror group will repeat similar assaults many times in the future until Israel is exterminated, reported The Times of Israel.

Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas's political bureau shared his remarks in an interview with Lebanese Television channel LBC, which was later translated and published on Wednesday by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), according to The Times of Israel.

"Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove it because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nations. We are not ashamed to say this," he was quoted as saying.

The Times of Israel further quoted Ghazi Hamad as saying that Israel's existence is "illogical" and that it must be wiped off all "Palestinian lands," a term the Hamas terror group uses to refer to the West Bank, Gaza and Israel minus the Golan Heights.

Nearly 3,000 Hamas terrorists on October 7, burst across the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea, and killed some 1,400 people, taking at least 245 hostages of all ages under their cover as they attacked by thousands of rocket fire at Israeli towns and cities.

The majority of those killed by Hamas terrorists were civilians, including babies, children, and the elderly. Entire families were executed in their homes.

Following the terror attack, Israel retaliated with a large-scale military offensive in Gaza aimed at destroying Hamas infrastructure and vowed to eliminate the entire terror group.

The Israel Defence Force (IDF) has attacked over 11,000 Hamas targets since its ground operation, Jerusalem Post reported.

Several countries have backed Israel in the terror attack by Hamas. UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly posted a clip of Hamad's interview on X, showing support for Israel, and said, "How can there be peace when Hamas are committed to the eradication of Israel? This is an official from Hamas committing to repeat the atrocities from 07/10 again and again."

Meanwhile, US presidential candidate Nikki Haley said, "Believe terrorists when they tell you who they are. This is why there should be no ceasefire until Hamas is destroyed."