Israeli Defense Minister Estimates It Will Take 3 Months to Complete Ground Operation in Gaza
(Baonghean.vn) - The country's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that when the campaign ends, "there will be no trace of Hamas."
According to RT, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told members of the country's Air Force on October 22 (local time) that Israel's ground campaign against Gaza could last up to 3 months, but would result in the destruction of Hamas.
“This must be the last ground exercise in Gaza, for the simple reason that there will be no Hamas after it,” Gallant said at the Air Force headquarters in Tel Aviv in remarks carried by multiple Israeli media outlets. “It will take a month, two months, three months, but in the end, there will be no Hamas.”
Just days after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, the Israeli military called up some 360,000 reservists and began drawing up plans to attack Gaza. Although Gallant has said several times since then that the IDF is ready to carry out such an operation, the final order has yet to be given.
Israeli military sources initially told the Times that cloudy weather was hampering planning for the operation, while other media outlets reported the risk of major Israeli casualties or intervention by Hezbollah. Bloomberg reported on Friday that the United States and some European allies were pressuring Israel to postpone the operation until it could negotiate the release of more hostages.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes have been pounding Gaza for more than two weeks. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the air campaign would be intensified before the ground campaign. Gallant made a similar statement on October 22, saying that “before the enemy meets the armor and infantry, they will meet the bombs of the air force.”
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israel's bombing campaign has caused widespread devastation in Gaza, killing nearly 4,700 people in the area and injuring more than 14,000. Despite insisting that residents of Gaza City would be safe if they evacuated to the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes have also attacked targets there, including refugee camps and residential buildings in the city of Khan Younnis, RT reported.
Earlier, speaking to Israeli lawmakers on October 20, Mr. Gallant said that Israel would "remove all responsibility for lives" in Gaza after its military operation was completed.
