Israel Predicts Gaza War Will Likely Continue for Another Seven Months
We may have another seven months of fighting ahead of us to consolidate our success and achieve our goals, that is, to destroy Hamas’ authority and military capabilities,” Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said in an interview with the Israeli public broadcaster (Kan).
Hanegbi, who spoke while in Cyprus, added, “Victory for us means destroying Hamas’ military capabilities, returning all the hostages, and ensuring that by the end of the war there will be no more threats from Gaza.”
He added, “In other words, there are no terrorist armies funded by Iran on our borders.” According to the security official, discussions are ongoing regarding the future of Gaza after the war.
He pointed out, “We are trying to plan what will happen after the war so that the Palestinians are responsible for their lives.”
Tzachi Hanegbi added, “We will be responsible for Israel’s security, but we do not want to rule Gaza.”
Eight months after the outbreak of the bloodiest war in the Gaza Strip, Israel faces international calls to end the fighting, along with cases before the United Nations International Courts of Justice and International Criminal Courts.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems determined to continue the fighting and fulfill his pledge to “eliminate” Hamas.
The war broke out in the Gaza Strip with Hamas launching an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7, killing 1,189 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on the latest official Israeli data.
During the attack, 252 hostages were taken and transferred to Gaza. After a truce in November allowed the release of about 100 of them, 121 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip, including 37 who died, according to the army.
Since then, Israel has launched a devastating bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip, accompanied by ground operations, causing 36,171 deaths, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
In a radio interview on the Israeli Reshet Bet station on Wednesday, Tzachi Hanegbi said: “It was frankly said in the first days of submitting the plans to the Council of Ministers that the war would be long.”
Hanegbi added: “It was built on a phased basis, with 2024 designated as the year of fighting. We are now in the fifth month of 2024, which means we expect another seven months of fighting to deepen our achievements and achieve our goal of destroying Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities.” And Islamic Jihad.”
He continued: “You have to be patient and know how to stand strong. It is this resilience that has allowed this nation to survive for 75 years, and even for 3,000 years before that. Just don’t use a stopwatch on ourselves or set ultimatums.”
