DeSantis denounces deadly attacks in Israel, wants Florida to increase sanctions on Iran

Gov.Ron DeSantis denounced the violence in Israel in the wake of the deadliest attack in the region in decades during a news conference Tuesday morning in Surfside where he also said he wants Florida to increase sanctions on Iran.

"What we witnessed this weekend was one of the worst terrorist attacks in the history of not just Israel but the modern world," DeSantis said in his speech at The Shul of Bal Harbour. "It's important that we say as Americans and as Floridians, we stand with the people of Israel and we stand with the state of Israel in this dark hour."

Israeli warplanes pounded downtown Gaza City, home to Hamas' centers of government, with relentless bombardments into early Tuesday, after Israel’s prime minister vowed retaliation against the Islamic militant group that would “reverberate for generations.”

The war — which began after Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Saturday, bringing gun battles to its streets for the first time in decades — has already claimed at least 1,600 lives.

DeSantis denounced the terror group Hamas in his comments Tuesday.

"We all know the truth. If Hamas and Hezbollah and any Palestinian Arab simply laid down their arms tomorrow, that would result in peace," DeSantis said. "If Israel laid down its arms tomorrow, that would result in the destruction of the Jewish state."

The tensions only expected to escalate, with questions over whether Israel will launch a ground invasion and Hamas threatening to kill captured Israelis if strikes targeted civilians without warning. Israel said that Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza are also holding more than 150 soldiers and civilians hostage.

"Israel not only has the right to defend itself, Israel has the duty to defend itself with overwhelming force, to defend itself in a way that Hamas terriorist infrastructure networks are eradicated from the Earth," DeSantis added. "I think that we need justice and I think that justice needs to be so severe that they wouldn't think of doing this ever, ever again."

DeSantis also said he would propose sanctions on Iran by the state of Florida.

"We are going to roll out for the next legislative session, a proposal to increase Florida sanctions on Iran and to block Iranian business in our state," DeSantis said. "Our proposed legislation will of course reinforce Florida's commitment that we don't do business with state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran, it's going to expand the prohibition on state investment in Iranian businesses to include the financial, construction, manufacturing, textile, technology, mining, metals, shipping, shipbuilding and port sectors."

The legislation would prohibit state and local governments from contracting with any company on the expanded sectors list, DeSantis said.

"We will not lift the sanctions until both the President and the U.S. Congress certify that Iran has stopped supporting international terrorism and seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction," he said.

Israel’s military said Tuesday morning that it had regained effective control over its south and the border, breached over the weekend in an attack that caught its vaunted military and intelligence apparatus completely off guard.

The bodies of roughly 1,500 Hamas militants, meanwhile, were found on Israeli territory, the military said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether those numbers overlapped with deaths previously reported by Palestinian authorities.