Israel is in an existential war in which defeat is not an option, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during Monday's ceremony at the Mount Herzl Military Ceremony to mark the annual Remembrance Day.

"It's us or them – Israel or the monsters of Hamas,” he said, as the country paid homage to fallen soldiers from all its wars, as a time when it was battling the terror group in Gaza.

What is at stake, Netanyahu said, is Israel’s “existence, liberty, security and prosperity.”

Should Israel fail, it could face another October 7th-like attack, in which there would be “torture, massacre, rape and slavery.” 

Netanyahu remains dedicated to winning the war

Israel, he said, is “determined to win this fight. We are exacting and will continue to exact a heavy price from the enemy for their criminal actions,” Netanyahu stated.

It is a victory that “God willing, will ensure our existence and our future. 

“But the price we are paying and that generations before us paid is heavy,” Netanyahu said.

Those who  “fell in battle – and every battle in Israel is a battle for our survival – represent eternal values: love of humankind and our nation, love of country, a willingness to make sacrifices, faith in the justice of our cause.”

He spoke as Israel marked its first Remembrance Day since Hamas’s October 7th invasion of southern Israel, in which over 1,200 people were killed and 252 taken hostage. There are still 132 people in captivity in Gaza.

At a second ceremony a few hours later, Netanyahu said, “We have not forgotten the hostages, even for a moment.”

“We are constantly working to bring everyone back,” Netanyahu stressed. 

He recalled that Israelis had already saved hostages in a November deal that saw the return of 105 of the captives.

“We have already returned about half of them, and we will return them all."

The government has been under from relatives of some of the hostages, who believe that it can and should make a deal now by agreeing to end the war.

Israel under pressure over Rafah operation

Israel has also been under international pressure to refrain from a major military operation in Rafah, which Netanyahu has painted as a necessary step in defeating Hamas but which the US feels will still leave the terror group in power in Gaza.

As Netanyahu spoke, the IDF pushed deep into the ruins of Gaza's northern edge to recapture an area where the army claimed to have defeated Hamas months ago, while at the opposite end of the enclave, tanks and troops pushed across a highway into Rafah, in what the IDF described as a limited operation.

With some of the most intense fighting for weeks now taking place on both the northern and southern edges of Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have again taken flight, and aid groups warn that a humanitarian crisis could sharply worsen.

Israel described its latest return to the north, where it pulled out most of its troops five months ago, as part of a "mop-up" stage of the war to prevent fighters from returning and said such operations had always been part of its plan. Palestinians say the need to keep fighting amid the ruins of previous battles is proof Israel's military objectives are unattainable.

At issue for the International community has been the high death toll, which Hamas has placed at over 35,000. Israel has said that it has killed some 14,000 Hamas combatants.

Netanyahu, in his Mount Herzl speeches, focused on the cruelty of the Hamas October 7 attack, explaining that Israel would never forget the “massacre” of the families, the rape, the kidnapping, and the mutilation of the bodies and “we will not let anyone in the world forget it.”

“On that black day, the murderers and their supporters danced on our blood, but today, they no longer dance,” he said. Now Hamas feels Israel’s stranglehold in the Gaza Strip.

“We will not stop until we topple the terror regime of Hamas,” Netanyahu stated.

He promised to build a building at Mount Herzl to memorialize victims of terror and to rebuild Israel’s Gaza envelope, “so that it will be “bigger and more vibrant and alive than it was,” 

Netanyahu pledged to build many new communities in that area.

“Every casualty broke my heart and broke the heart of the entire nation. I know the size of your grief, I know the pain of every family. We all stand together, we all stand together today - and we all stand together always,” he said.