Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Thursday, issued a statement outlining the five principles for ending the war in Gaza that Israel's security cabinet settled on in a meeting one week ago.

The five principles are: Hamas must be disarmed, all hostages - the living and the deceased - are to be returned. "We will not give up on a single one," declared Netanyahu. The Gaza Strip is to be demilitarised. Not only must Hamas be disarmed, but it must be ensured that weapons will neither be produced in Gaza nor smuggled into it.

The fourth one will be, there will be Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip, including the security perimeter. There will be an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority - people who will neither educate their children for terrorism, nor finance terrorism, nor dispatch terrorism. "These five principles will ensure the security of Israel. This is the meaning of the word 'victory'," said Netanyahu.