𝗔𝗺𝗯𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗿 𝗢𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗸'𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝘆𝗽𝗿𝘂𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆

𝗔𝗺𝗯𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗿 𝗢𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗸'𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝘆𝗽𝗿𝘂𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆

"𝗡𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁. 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗿, 𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗮𝘇𝗮, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝗻."

Moreover, Anolik said he was very much encouraged by this very deep and vast support to Israel by Cyprus. "We are thankful that we have the opportunity if needed to be assisted by Cyprus and this will be taken into consideration in our planning ahead," he noted

In his statements to CNA, Anolik said that "Israel was viciously attacked on Saturday morning by this barbaric Palestinian organisation called Hamas. The horrific footage and images we saw coming from Israel are just unbelievable: shooting at people at a party, burning down houses and then shooting the families while they are trying to escape, taking children as hostages into Gaza, taking an 85-year-old holocaust survivor on a wheelchair into Gaza, executions of civilians, beheadings of people," he added.

"This is a savage behaviour. This is something that every civilized person is shocked by when he sees all those horrific things. We were taken by surprise, there is no doubt about it. We are now at war. This is not a war against the people of Gaza, this is a war against a terrorist organization which indiscriminately was targeting civilians. We will fight this terrorist organization we will beat it down," he stressed.

He went on to say that "nobody will hit Israel and will get away with it. So, we are now preparing our forces, we are preparing our plans and we will go into this war and we will win this war against this terrorist organization."

Anolik underlined that "we are not targeting the people of Gaza, we are targeting a terrorist organization and in spite of the difficulties and heavy prices we paid we are a strong, we are a resolute nation and we will overcome."

Invited to say why he thinks Hamas hit Israel now, he replied: "Honestly, I don’ know. In recent weeks and months there were different efforts that were made, that Israel was part of, to try to improve the lives of Palestinians residing in Gaza. So, several projects were discussed. Gaza marine, gas for Gaza. There was a whole discussion and we actually gave more permissions for more Palestinians from Gaza to come into Israel and work in Israel."

"So, whereas we were trying to get and make the Palestinians’ lives better Hamas has zero care about its own people. What it cares about is only massacring Israelis. Children, pregnant women, old people. It doesn’t care. It just wants to kill more and more Israelis. This is more important for it than actually doing something in favour of its own people. Every civilized person should look at this and be dismayed by this," the Ambassador noted.

Asked if he believes that Iran is behind this attack, he said that he cannot make a direct linkage. I can tell you that Iran has a very important link with Hamas. They supply them with weapons, they supply them with know-how, they provide training, ideology, inspiration. You can see the reaction of the leaders of Iran how happy they are about this. So, there is a clear linkage to Iran. I don’t know whether Iran was directly involved in this specific attack but this is something that Iran is supportive of, thinks it is a positive thing," he noted

He went on to say that this "reminds us once again this murderous regime in Iran what its priorities are as well."

Asked how much he thinks this ware will go on, Anoli said that the Israeli leadership is telling Israeli civilians, that this will be a prolonged. "We don’t know how long it is going to take. This is war. This war was enforced upon us. We did not want this war. But we were attacked. Therefore, we will make sure that this war ends in a different situation that it began. We cannot go back to what was before October 7. This is the goal, this is the aim," he noted.

Asked about how this will affect balances in the region he said it is premature to speak about this." I cannot forecast the future. We see who our friends are, we know who our friends are. I am very much encouraged by this very deep and vast support that we are getting now in Cyprus. I cannot at the moment try to speculate what kind of geostrategic changes will happen in the future. But I think this is also an opportunity to see and be reminded who are your friends and who are not," he added

Asked about President Nikos Christodoulides' statements that Cyprus could help Israel and more specifically that patients could be treated in Cyprus hospitals if needed, something for which he informed his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, Anolik said that they appreciate this very much.

"This suggestion is a very positive one. As far as I know at the moment there is no particular need to be taken care of. But we are aware of this. We do attach importance to our strategic relations with Cyprus. We are thankful that we have the opportunity if needed to be assisted by Cyprus and this will be taken into consideration in our planning ahead," he concluded.