Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted on Tuesday that his pursuit of “total victory” against Iran and its proxies “never ends,” as he touted what he said have been Israel’s military gains over the past three years, while insisting that more work was left to do.

In a rare TV Hebrew media interview — albeit on his Channel 14 mouthpiece network — Netanyahu was asked whether his Gaza war pledge to achieve “total victory” is still in force.

“It never ends. Do you want to live in the Middle East or in the world? You have to be very strong. And we are very strong. Israel is stronger than it has ever been, and we have put off threats and weakened (our adversaries) considerably. We have more work to do. We will take care of what is left of the Iranian axis,” Netanyahu said to applause from the supportive audience.

The premier touted Israel’s killing of much of the leadership of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran as well as the buffer zones Israel has established in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, even as he appeared to acknowledge that the results of the Iran war fell short of the more definitive war aims he initially set to destroy Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and to help spark regime change.

Netanyahu has previously argued that Israel will have to forever live by the sword in a world full of adversaries bent on its destruction, but the approach has exposed him to criticism from political opponents who have accused him of extending wars in Gaza and elsewhere in the region in order to remain in power, given that his coalition partners have threatened to collapse his government if he adopted more conciliatory policies.

Leaders abroad have argued Netanyahu’s hardline approach — particularly since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught — has not actually addressed the threats Israel faces and has harmed opportunities for regional integration.

Netanyahu: Let me tell you something: The war is never over. Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#Article_Incontent1")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: 'Article_Incontent1', baseDivId: 'Article_Incontent1', } ]); }); } Do you want to live? In the Middle East, and in the world, you must be very strong. We are very strong. Israel is stronger than ever. pic.twitter.com/VsSAtWxrzG — Clash Report (@clashreport) June 30, 2026

Let me tell you something: The war is never over.

Do you want to live? In the Middle East, and in the world, you must be very strong.

We are very strong. Israel is stronger than ever. pic.twitter.com/VsSAtWxrzG

— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 30, 2026

“You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have,” US Vice President JD Vance said in June,........

© The Times of Israel