Palestinian Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel will destroy Hamas, Free the hostages and Give Gaza a different future. An Israeli Prime Minister Explains the “Cultural Change” in Gaza

Israel will destroy Hamas, free the hostages and give Gaza a different future, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The prime minister didn’t say who should lead the territory, which is devastated by six weeks of Israeli bombing, in his interview with Morning Edition.

Israeli officials said that Israel was responding to an attack by Hamas that left 1200 people dead. More than 11,000 people have been killed by the Israeli response. Israeli troops now directly control much of northern Gaza, and this week occupied a major hospital center.

Israel had allowed Hamas to rule Gaza in order to prevent Israel from having to. Israel has stated that Hamas can’t rule.

An Israeli military officer told NPR in early November that some combination of “local and international” forces should govern Gaza, but no candidates for this role have emerged.

He talked about a similar “cultural change” that occurred in Germany and Japan when those countries transitioned from authoritarian rule to democracies. He said that no government in Gaza should be funding terrorism.

The main hospital of Gaza City was closed this week by Israeli troops. Ground fighting and fuel shortages have caused Al-Shifa to stop functioning due to lack of medical supplies.

Colonel Tsury acknowledged early Friday the pressure on Israel to show evidence of Hamas activity at the hospital, but said it might be days before troops descended the shaft. He added that soldiers were methodically searching the complex and had discovered weapons, explosives and computers, as well as the body of an Israeli hostage in a nearby building. The military announced later in the day that soldiers had found a second hostage’s body in a building near Al-Shifa.

Israel has taken over the command center in the hospital that troops found weapons, bombs, and other items, according to Netanyahu. He added that as troops moved in, they brought Arabic-speaking doctors and incubators with them.

The safeguards are not absolute, though the hospitals are protected by the convention. Netanyahu does not think a cease-fire can happen until all hostages are released.

Israeli soldiers escorted journalists to visit a stone-and-concrete shaft on the grounds of a hospital in Gaza City on Thursday.

Col. Elad Tsury said that Israeli forces were not going down the shaft because they were afraid of booby traps. He said it had been discovered earlier in the day under a pile of sand on the northern perimeter of the complex.

In the darkness, it was unclear where the shaft led or how deep it went, although the military said it had sent a drone down at least several meters. The electrical wiring and staircase were visible.

He said they found a lot of weapons. “We found a lot of ammunition. We found bombs. We found on level minus-two a command and control center of Hamas, with military encoded encryption.”

The reporters and a photographer were not allowed to leave Israel for the duration of the visit because they had to remain with the troops. They agreed not to photograph most soldiers’ faces, landmarks, maps and certain details of weapons. The Times did not allow the Israeli military to screen its coverage before publication.

Colonel Tsury claimed the military had provided food, supplies and medical equipment to patients but it was not clear if he was telling the truth.

The extent of damage to the hospital was not clear. But its main emergency building appeared intact, with electricity, after a dayslong siege that health officials say had resulted in increasingly dire conditions.

The Times’ visit gave the impression of gun battles in nearby streets. To enter the hospital grounds, special forces officers escorted journalists through the bombed-out remains of a building on the outskirts of the site; they said it was too dangerous to pass through the main gate.

There were parts of Gaza that were not recognizable away from the hospital. The seafront promenade, the apartment blocks and some of the houses of the city had been destroyed. Constant tank traffic had also churned the main coastal road into a bumpy dirt track.