Netanyahu says war in Gaza will last “several more months” and will continue until “victory”

As heavy fighting continues between the Israeli Army and Hamas in Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu He assured on Saturday that the war “will last several more months,” while continuing without giving details on how to free the hostages still held captive in the Strip or specifying what Israel’s post-war plan is.

“We will continue until victory, to achieve such victory and our objectives we need time,” the prime minister said in a press conference, in which he emphasized that Israel will continue “its relentless bombing to defeat” Hamas, on the 85th day of a war that does not seem to have an imminent end or a clear exit.

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Troops “fight all over Gaza” and “underground,” and so far “killed more than 8,000 Hamas members,” Netanyahu declared. According to him he reiterated, his other priority is the release of around 129 hostages – more than a hundred considered alive and another 22 dead – in the Strip, while the contacts mediated by Egypt or Qatar for this and that would include a truce for Now they don’t bear fruit.

Given this, Netanyahu – in low hours after the fiasco of not having anticipated the surprise attack by Hamas on October 7 that left more than 1,200 dead in Israel – asked the population for “patience” regarding the issue of the captives and the continuity of war. This has already left more than 2,200 soldiers injured, and after starting the ground offensive in Gaza on October 27, 170 Israeli soldiers died in Gaza.

On Saturday afternoon there was another large mobilization in the center of Tel Aviv asking the Government to make a greater effort to free the hostages. “Take the hostages back to Gaza as soon as possible,” demanded thousands of people, including relatives of the captives, who demonstrate weekly and are increasingly impatient for the return of their loved ones.

Beyond Tel Aviv, there were protests in other parts of Israel where protesters in turn called for Netanyahu’s resignation.

Intense fighting and attacks by Israeli troops continued today in the area of ​​the southern city of Khan Younis, where a large number of soldiers are expanding Army operations and said they have killed dozens of militiamen in the last few hours.

Among other actions, the Army carried out a raid against what it considers to be the head of Hamas Military Intelligence in Khan Yunis, “and they assaulted the headquarters” of the Islamist group in the center of the city.

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Israel does not yet propose clear scenarios for ‘the day after’ in Gaza, while it does not seem to be close to achieving its main objective, dismantling Hamas from Gaza, where its militias continue to attack and ambush Israeli troops.

So far, Netanyahu insists that Israel will maintain security control over Gaza “indefinitely,” but did not detail who or how the enclave will be governed once the current offensive ends.

At this point, the tents to accommodate part of the 1.9 million internally displaced people in Gaza are spreading in the southern area of ​​Rafah, where many of them are concentrated, while the Gazan Government also estimates that there are some 800,000 people in the north of the enclave and without access to medical care, while hospitals remain almost completely out of service.

In an area full of tents, the Egyptian Red Crescent set up a camp to house thousands of displaced people in the Masawi area of ​​​​Khan Younis, an image that could spread increasingly across the Strip in the future as the destruction continues. to increase.

An estimated 70% of buildings and homes in Gaza were destroyed or damaged, in a landscape of devastation that adds to the around 7,000 people believed to be dead under rubble, beyond the more than 21,600 Palestinians confirmed dead. , around 75% of them children, women and the elderly.

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The wounded now number more than 56,100 since the start of the war. According to Health, there are about 5,300 injured or sick people who need to be evacuated abroad “to save their lives,” but so far Egypt has only provided an outlet for 1% of the total number of injured people in the Strip.

There is also much concern about the spread of infectious diseases in Gaza. A quarter of its population – out of a total of 2.3 million – could die in a year from contagious outbreaks linked to the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict, Devi Sridhar, professor of global public health at the British newspaper, said today in the British newspaper The Guardian. the University of Edinburgh.

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