YnetNews.com reports: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will fight on to victory. The prime minister gave a videotaped speech during a prerecorded ceremony in Jerusalem, marking the beginning of Israel’s 76th Independence Day. ‘This is not an ordinary Independence Day. The war is still being fought, many of our brothers and sisters are still being held in the dungeons of Hamas, their families suffering terribly. We will bring all of them home, those who are dead and those who are alive,’ he said.

Netanyahu went on to say that he was told by families of the fallen and wounded that their sacrifice would not be in vein. ‘carry on to the end, they tell me, and that is what we will do, I promise.’

Since October 7, 620 members of the IDF have been killed 270 of them since the ground offensive on Gaza began and 1,674 were wounded…”