Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced the imminent completion of the active offensive phase of the country’s army in the north of the Gaza Strip.
He also said that the fighting in the southern part of the region would soon end.
Then, in the north and south of Gaza, the IDF will begin the next stage of the military operation, according to the head of the Israeli defense department TASS.
Three months
He recalled that 3 months ago, together with the Chief of the IDF General Staff and the Director of the General Security Service, he presented the government with a plan for war in the enclave.
Ministers were informed that intensive hostilities would last about 3 months.
In the northern Gaza Strip, this phase will come to an end. In southern Gaza we will reach it and it will end soon, and in both places there will come a point when we move on to the next stage,” Galant said.
He clarified that Tel Aviv’s operations in the region will be adapted “in accordance with reality.”
North and center of Gaza
According to the head of the Ministry of Defense, in the north of Gaza, “all structures of Hamas battalions have been dismantled.”
Now there, the Israeli military is eliminating pockets of resistance “in hot spots of terror” through raids, air strikes, special operations and additional activities.
And in the center of Gaza, the IDF is destroying the Hamas military industry with its production centers.
These are places where missiles, explosives and weapons are produced,” Galant explained.
South
In the south of the enclave, Israeli troops are using different tactics: “the forces are concentrated on the “head of the snake” – the Hamas leadership, hiding tens of meters underground, the minister added.
The Khan Yunis Brigade is actually disintegrating as a fighting force, we are also cutting off the routes leading from Khan Yunis to Rafah above and below the ground,” the head of the Ministry of Defense informed.
According to him, at the end of the war, Israel will no longer face any threat from Gaza.
By then, Hamas will no longer be able to control the region and “function as a military force.”
Freedom of action
But the IDF, Galant emphasizes, “will have complete freedom of action.”
This may take a lot of time, but it will end in one scenario – complete victory,” the Israeli Defense Minister concluded.
Netanyahu previously said there should be a closure between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
