Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that the military operation in the Palestinian Gaza Strip will last for many more months, as well as warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement against expanding the scale of its attacks on Israel.
"The campaign in the Gaza Strip will last for many more months," Netanyahu told a press conference.
The Jewish politician claimed that the Israeli invasion of Gaza will last until all its goals, including the destruction of the Hamas movement, are achieved.
"If Hezbollah expands the scale of the confrontation, we will carry out strikes that neither Hezbollah nor Iran can imagine," Netanyahu said.
Meanwhile, according to local Palestinian broadcaster Al-Aqsa, at least one hundred Palestinians have been killed and 158 wounded in Israeli attacks on communities in central Gaza over the past 24 hours.
"One hundred people have been killed and 158 injured in the occupiers' bombardment of the central Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours," a medical source was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.
On October 7, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip, while its fighters breached the border, opening fire on the military and civilians. As a result, over 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 240 others abducted.
Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, and launched a ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave with the stated goal of eliminating Hamas militants and rescuing hostages. Nearly 21,500 Palestinian civilians, predominantly children and women, have been killed so far in the Strip as a result of the Israeli attacks, according to local officials.
On November 24, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a temporary truce and the exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire was extended several times and expired on December 1.