Netanyahu says the final phase of the war against Hamas is imminent

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that the main phase of the war against the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip will soon be over.

“We are nearing the end of the phase of dismantling the Hamas terror army,” he said in Jerusalem at a reception for cadets of the National Defense Academy. “We will continue to fight against its remnants.”

Netanyahu had previously visited the Gaza Division, which is currently stationed in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. He said he had seen “very significant progress” there.

Israel has been bombing Gaza for months and launched a ground offensive after Hamas’ mass attack on October 7. According to the Palestinian Health Authority, at least 37,765 Palestinians have been killed and another 86,429 injured in Gaza since then.

Netanyahu said the offensive in Rafah on the border with Egypt was aimed at destroying the last large Hamas fighting units. However, the Islamist militia remained militarily active in the form of smaller units.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s words indicate that the Israeli army’s major ground offensive in the Gaza Strip could soon come to an end.

Netanyahu and senior military officials have repeatedly pointed out that Israeli troops would remain at strategic locations in the sealed-off coastal region even after the phase of heavy fighting. This includes, in particular, the so-called Philadelphia Corridor, a 14-kilometer-long, narrow strip that runs along the border with Egypt on the Gaza side near Rafah.