Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that Israel’s military will increase its Gaza offensive in the near future, stressing a commitment to dismantling Hamas entirely. “In the very coming days, we are going in with full force to complete the operation. Completing the operation means defeating Hamas. It means destroying Hamas,” Netanyahu said Monday during a visit to injured reserve soldiers, according to a statement from his office.
Netanyahu explained that Israel will not cease the war. “A temporary ceasefire may occur, but we are going all the way,” he stated.
Israel resumed large-scale military action in Gaza on March 18 after negotiations over extending a January 19 truce with Hamas collapsed. The Israeli government had approved an expanded offensive plan earlier this month, which includes a long-term presence in some areas of Gaza. Military officials said the next stage would involve the displacement of a large number of the population.
The conflict has already forced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants at least one time. Netanyahu affirmed the Israeli government is trying to identify other nations who would accept Palestinian civilians. “We’ve established an administration that will enable them to go out, but we have countries that will be willing to take them in. That’s what we’re attempting to do presently,” he said, finding that “more than 50 per cent will depart” if it isn’t possible.
The war started after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which killed 1,218 people and resulted in 251 hostages being taken. By the United Nations’ account, some almost 53,000 civilians nearly all of them civilians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its retaliatory offensive, numbers that the United Nations finds credible.
Israel maintains its campaign will not stop until Hamas is completely destroyed despite global condemnation.
