Netanyahu aide says Gaza offensive will last at least another seven months

Follow the latest news on the war in Gaza live

The National Security Advisor calls Spain, Ireland and Norway “hostile countries” for their recognition of the State of Palestine

May 29. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Tzachi Hanegbi, the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, stated this Wednesday that the military offensive against the Gaza Strip, unleashed after the attacks carried out on October 7 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), It will last at least another seven months with the declared objective of “destroying” the capabilities of the Islamist group, which has controlled the enclave since 2007.

“We have another seven months of fighting ahead of us to deepen the achievements and materialize what we define as the destruction of Hamas’s military and government capabilities,” Hanegbi said in statements to the Israeli public broadcaster, Kan, in which he defended the option of “closing” the border between Gaza and Egypt, within the framework of the intensification of the military offensive against the city of Rafá.

“We must close the border between Egypt and Gaza. No one will volunteer to protect us and we will have to do it ourselves,” he argued, amid the advances of the Israeli Army around the Philadelphia corridor, the name by which the strip of land that runs along the border, whose Palestinian side came under the control of the Palestinian Authority as of the ‘Disengagement Plan’ of 2005 and whose Egyptian side came under the control of Cairo.

However, Hamas took over the area after taking control of the enclave after the intra-Palestinian fighting in 2007, as a result of disputes arising from the elections the previous year. Egypt, which has maintained a peace agreement with Israel since 1979, has warned Israel about the risk of operations in the area, especially after the Israeli Army took this part of the pass during the day of May 7.

“The Army is making tremendous efforts and achieving great achievements,” praised Hanegbi, who has reiterated the authorities’ intention to achieve the return of those kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attacks and has said that “it is difficult to understand the intensity of the nightmare that these families are experiencing”. “There are 125 people that need to be brought home, something we work for every day,” she explained, while denying that Netanyahu is blocking indirect negotiations with Hamas for political reasons.

“It is abominable to talk about this type of manipulation. The Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense (Yoav Gallant) and the war cabinet have unanimously approved activities in which our guys risk suffering casualties (in the operations in Gaza and “They have expanded the mandate (of the negotiating team),” said Hanegbi, who argued that “the United States has stated that the Israeli offer (for a ceasefire agreement) is very generous.”

In another vein, Netanyahu’s National Security Advisor has described Spain, Ireland and Norway as “hostile countries” for their recent recognition of the State of Palestine, officially materialized on Tuesday and which brings the total number of United Nations member states that have taken this step. “Friendly countries continue to fulfill their obligations to Israel,” he concluded.

Israel unleashed its offensive against Gaza after the attacks carried out on October 7 by Hamas, which left nearly 1,200 dead and about 240 kidnapped, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli offensive has so far caused nearly 36,200 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza authorities, to which are added more than 510 deaths at the hands of Israeli forces and in attacks carried out by settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.