Israeli defense minister says ground operation in Gaza may last months

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel's upcoming ground offensive in the Gaza Strip may last months, Israeli media reported Sunday evening.

"This needs to be the last maneuver in Gaza, for the simple reason that after it, there will be no Hamas. It will take a month, two months, three, but in the end, there will be no Hamas," Gallant was quoted as saying at the Israeli Air Force's command center in Tel Aviv by the Times of Israel.

Last week, Gallant said Israel's military operation against Hamas will have three main phases.

"We are in the first phase, in which a military campaign is taking place with (airstrikes) and later with a (ground) maneuver with the purpose of destroying operatives and damaging infrastructure in order to defeat and destroy Hamas," the Times of Israel quoted Gallant as saying on Friday.

He noted the second phase will be continued fighting but at a lower intensity and the third step will be the creation of a new security regime in the coastal enclave.

The latest round of Israel-Hamas conflict that broke out on October 7 has killed over 1400 people in Israel and wounded 5,431 others, according to official statistics.

Meanwhile, the death toll of Palestinians from Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip has risen to 5,087, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Monday.