Hamas conflict will endure for months – ex-Israeli defence chief

However, Benny Gantz has stated that Israel won’t be triumphant until after reconstruction is complete, which will take years.

Benny Gantz, a former defence minister and current member of Israel’s emergency war cabinet, said on Wednesday that large-scale fighting may extend outside of Gaza and that it is doubtful that the battle between the Israeli government and the Palestinian militant group Hamas will end anytime soon.

Speaking at Ofir Libstein’s funeral, a regional council leader who was allegedly slain by Hamas operatives, Gantz said that the conflict “will take a long time.”

“The rebuilding will take years, and the war in the south — and if necessary, also in the north or anywhere else — might last months. We won’t be victorious until [the rebuilding is finished], he said, as reported by the Times of Israel.

Gantz, who previously held the position of defence minister but is currently a minister without a portfolio, was alluding to a tumultuous situation on Israel’s border with Lebanon, which is home to the militant group Hezbollah, when he spoke of a potential northern front. Additionally, a portion of the Golan Heights, which Syria claims, is occupied by Israel.

Israel’s objective, according to the minister, “is not just to defeat Hamas, but to promise that the south will be 100% paradise.”

“After we win, on any front that we fight, we will be dedicated to this rebuilding,” he declared.

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Gadi Shamni, a former commander of the IDF’s Gaza Division, claimed that the US, his nation’s most important friend, “is expecting us to destroy Hamas” in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12. He is confident that Israel’s military can successfully complete the mission in six to eight months and is equal to the assignment.

However, ex-CIA director David Petraeus cautioned that Israel’s ground campaign in Gaza could out to be “Mogadishu on steroids,” referring to a brutal struggle involving US soldiers in the capital city of Somalia in 1993. Petraeus was speaking about the probable timetable of the conflict.

“The urban setting, again, could not be more challenging,” he told Politico. “You’ll see suicide bombers, you’ll see improvised explosive devices, there will be ambushes, booby traps, and there will be booby traps.”

On October 7, when the militant organisation launched a surprise missile and ground assault on Israel, combat broke out, resulting in thousands of casualties and injuries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by claiming that Israel was at war and pledging vengeance. According to official statistics, more over 3,700 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis have died as a result of the fighting so far.