As Israel prepares for a possible ground offensive in Gaza, the State's ambassador to Singapore said his country would do everything "humanly possible" to protect the scores of Israeli hostages being held there. However, with airstrikes already having killed several captured Israelis, he stressed that "the most important thing" right now was "to destroy Hamas."

Scrambling to contain a surprise attack by Hamas that left at least 1,200 Israelis dead this weekend, Israel has since launched a massive aerial assault on Gaza. Apartment blocks, hospitals and schools in the Palestinian territory have been reduced to rubble, with airstrikes killing more than 1,000 Palestinians and displacing more 260,000 in the enclave. 

However, during Hamas' lightning assault on Saturday, between 100 and 150 Israelis were taken hostage – including members of Israel's security forces – who are now being held in Gaza.  Their fate is unclear, but Hamas stated on Monday that Israeli aerial attacks had already killed four of the hostages.

READ MORE

Israel places Gaza Strip under total siege where 'no place is safe'

Israel mourns its '9/11' as China calls for two-state solution

Wider conflict could 'erupt' in region following Israel attacks

"Ever since I can remember, the State of Israel has done everything humanly possible in order to save Israeli captives," Eli Vered Hazan, Israel's ambassador to Singapore and the former director of foreign affairs for Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, told CGTN Europe. However, he stressed that currently Israel "will not forget that the most important thing right now is to destroy Hamas."

"We know there are going to be heavy casualties, even from the Israeli side, but not only. And we must do everything humanly possible because if we do not destroy Hamas, the outcome for the future is going to be much worse," he added. 

Uncertainty over the hostages' fate remains a highly emotional issue for the families of those captured, as well as a problem for the Israel state as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant pledged on Tuesday that IDF forces would be launching a full ground offensive into the Gaza strip, raising the threat that more hostages could die. 

The Qassam brigades – the armed wing of Hamas – have already threatened to kill one hostage for every new Israeli airstrike on civilian targets that is not preceded by a warning. Qatar is reportedly attempting to broker an agreement between Hamas and Israel for an prisoner exchange of women and children, while several foreign nationals are also thought to have been taken hostage.

However, Hazan stressed the most important thing was now "to create a Gaza Strip like Germany after World War II, in a way that they cannot even think after that, after the strikes, about any kind of violence," referencing the Allies' decision to fragment and demilitarize Germany after the fall of the Nazis in 1945.

"We have to finish Hamas like we finished with ISIS (the Islamic State), and the same way we finished the Nazi movement, because this is the same at the end. We are speaking about people who want to destroy the world by killing as many people as they can," said the ambassador. 

He went on to say Israel's allies must support such a goal, "because at the end we are speaking about human beings, we are speaking about life."

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday