 The Israeli government released a video on November 13 of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with commanders and soldiers of the Karakal battalion, at one of the assembly points near the Gaza Strip fence and thanking them for their service, Israel launched its campaign last month to annihilate Hamas, the militant group which runs the Gaza Strip, after Hamas fighters rampage through southern Israel, killing civilians. This is neither an operation nor a round, but a war to the end. It is important to me that you know this, Netanyahu told soldiers gathered around him. This is not lip service, but from the heart and mind. If we do not finish them, it will come back. Around 1,200 people died and 240 were dragged to Gaza as hostages according to Israel's tally, in the deadliest day in its 75-year history, since then thousands of Ghazans have been killed and two-thirds of the population made homeless by a relentless Israeli military campaign.