[NOT A JOKE] Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said that Hamas fighters "are eliminated or in hiding" declares Hamas defeated, but sees years of fighting ahead

https://tass.com/world/1773319

TEL AVIV, April 10. /TASS/. While Hamas has been defeated on the battleground, Israel will need to send soldiers to fight Palestinian radicals in the Gaza Strip for years to come, Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said.

"From a military point of view Hamas is defeated. Its fighters are eliminated or in hiding," he said following a meeting of his National Unity party in the city of Sderot.

Still, it’s not the end of the battle for Israel, the minister said.

"Fighting against Hamas will take time. Boys who are now in middle school will still fight in the Gaza Strip, like in Judea and Samaria and against Lebanon," he went on to say.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas cast the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and started striking the enclave and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.

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