Freeing the hostages is a priority. But eliminating the Hamas threat is no less a priority. And the war must not end until both goals are achieved, insisted Avida Bachar in a radio interview on Wednesday, as mediators announced they had reached a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

On the morning of October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists entered the family’s home in Kibbutz Be’eri. Bachar, his wife, and his two teenage children shut themselves in the bomb shelter. Hamas terrorists did their best to open the door, and their incessant gunfire hit Bachar in the leg and his 15-year-old son Carmel in the arm. Failing in their efforts to take the family captive, the terrorists set fire to the house. Hours into the ordeal, Carmel bled to death in his father’s arms, and Bachar’s wife Dana slowly succumbed to smoke inhalation before his eyes.

Like most in Kibbutz Be’eri, Avida Bachar used to believe in peace and coexistence with the Palestinians of Gaza. No more.

“My perception before was that they want to live. If we give them opportunities, they want to live. On October 7th, I realized I was wrong,” Bachar told Channel 14’s Sharon Gal. “They all want to destroy the State of Israel, and from their perspective all means of achieving that are acceptable.”

Bachar insisted that such an enemy “must not be allowed to exist.”

Israel is about to enter a ceasefire agreement pressed upon it by Washington. But Bachar doesn’t see that as the end of the story. What’s the harm in betraying an agreement with Nazis?

“Who cares if we free all of the jailed terrorists” to get our hostages back, said Bachar. “Everyone there [in Gaza] is a terrorist. So there will be a few more before we wipe them out. Just get our hostages back as quickly as possible.”

As for the much-touted “day after,” Bachar urged Israel’s leaders to wake up and realize that for Hamas and the Palestinians, this is a generational war of attrition. “The solution is not peace and coexistence. It’s a matter of land and control. We should take Gaza and exile [the people] to Egypt, Jordan, and Syria,” he suggested. “Every child born there will seek our destruction.”