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Israel’s campaign in Gaza will continue for months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, dashing any hope of a swift end to a war that is already the bloodiest in 75 years of conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
“We have major successes but we have also paid a painful price,” he said in a primetime address to the nation on Saturday night. However, he added: “In order to achieve absolute victory, in order to accomplish all of our goals, more time is required.”
Repeating comments made by Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi, the prime minister said: “The war will continue for many more months.”
Nearly three months into a land, air and sea invasion of Gaza that was sparked when militant group Hamas carried out a cross-border raid on Israeli territory on October 7, the death toll has soared past grim historical milestones. Nearly 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry — the most since the 1948 war that founded the State of Israel.
At least 1,200 people, including more than 300 soldiers, were killed during the Hamas raid, the Israeli government estimates, the deadliest loss of life on the country’s soil since 1948. About 240 hostages were also seized by Hamas and other militants. Another 172 Israeli troops have died fighting in Gaza, with hundreds injured.
Israel shows no sign of reducing the intensity of its operations in Gaza, despite calls from allies to move to targeted raids to try and capture or kill senior Hamas commanders or political leaders such as Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, who Israel holds responsible for planning the October 7 raid.
Israel has also rejected international pressure for a temporary truce to allow significant humanitarian aid into besieged Gaza and potentially the exchange of the remaining hostages held by Hamas to be swapped for Palestinian prisoners.
In the past week, the Israeli military has deepened its invasion of Gaza, fighting its way through the southern city of Khan Younis, the second-largest in the territory.
More than 85 per cent of the strip’s 2.3mn population have been forced from their homes as swaths of the enclave have been reduced to wasteland. With limited aid reaching Gaza, UN agencies have warned of risks of disease, malnutrition and even famine.
The US is continuing to supply Israel with weapons, including an emergency $147.5mn sale, disclosed by the state department on December 29, of more than 100,000 artillery shells, plus fuses and primers for howitzers.
In his address at the weekend, Netanyahu referred to the fact that Israel was increasingly isolated on the world stage but retained US backing.
“As prime minister, I have rejected the international pressure aimed at stopping the war before we achieve [our] goals,” he said. “I appreciate the US support for Israel, as this was expressed last week in the UN Security Council and in the approval that was given by the American administration for the supply of additional war materiel.”
The US abstained from a UN Security Council vote that called for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza after the language was changed to drop calls for a ceasefire — a demand the US had threatened to veto.
The longer the conflict continues, the greater its ripples through the Middle East. Hizbollah, the powerful Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, and Israel have engaged in near-daily cross-border fire since October 8. Each clash raises the possibility of a regional war.
“We have approved operational plans for the continuation of the fighting,” Netanyahu said. “If Hizbollah expands the war it will absorb blows that it has not dreamed of, and Iran as well.”
The US has deployed two aircraft carriers to the region to deter Hizbollah, and France is engaged in diplomatic efforts to push the militia away from the border with Israel.
On Sunday morning, a US warship deployed helicopters to fend off armed gunmen in four boats who were trying to board a Maersk Hangzhou civilian container ship in the southern Red Sea. The US said the assailants were Iran-backed Houthi rebels who control northern Yemen and that it had sunk three of their boats.
Maersk, which operates the world’s second-largest container shipping fleet, said it would pause Red Sea shipping for 48 hours following the attack.
A US-led coalition, dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian, is taking shape in an attempt to patrol the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, where Houthi rebels have targeted several ships. The group commandeered one, the Galaxy Leader, which has ties to an Israeli shipping magnate, and took it back to Yemen in mid-November.
The disruption to shipping lanes affects Israeli imports of essential commodities and complicates the multi-theatre conflicts that have intensified alongside the war in Gaza. Two Israeli officials told the Financial Times that Israel’s battle plans included a response to the Houthi rebels but that this had been shelved while the US-led coalition dealt with the threat.
“We will not allow this threat to harm the citizens of Israel or the Israeli economy,” Netanyahu said.