Israel is in an existential war in which defeat is not an option, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said during Monday’s ceremony at the Mt. Herzl Military Ceremony to mark the annual Remembrance Day.

“It’s either us – Israel, or them – the Hamas monsters of Hamas,” he said, .

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.” 

“We are determined to win this struggle, we exacted and will exact a high price from the enemy for their criminal acts, we will realize the goals of victory and at the center of them the return of all our hostages home,” Netanyahu said.

“I long for you like a flower thirsts for water,” Netanyahu said at the start of his address, quoting Ashira Grinberg, widow of Lt. Col. Tomer Grinberg, who fell in Gaza. Netanyahu continued, “Everyone who fought to defend the country, everyone who crossed the border into enemy territory, knows this light, the light of home that instills in us the determination to achieve our goal. This is the light of the 25,000 fallen soldiers of Israel that guides our path.”

He said the war was “just half done” but that “it will be and must be won.” It is a victory, that “with God’s help, will ensure our existence and our future. 

“But the price paid by us and past generations is very heavy,” Netanyahu said.

He spoke as Israel marked its first Memorial Day since Hamas’s October 7 invasion of southern Israel. Over 1,200 people were killed and 252 taken hostage. 680 soldiers have falled since the last Memorial Day. There are still 132 people still held in captivity in Gaza, not all of them alive.