The battle between Hamas and Israel is unlikely to end anytime soon, according to Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s emergency war council and former defence minister, who added that large-scale conflicts could spread beyond Gaza.
Gantz predicted that the fighting would “take a long time” during the funeral of Ofir Libstein, a regional council head who was purportedly slain by Hamas militants.
“The war in the south – and, if necessary, in the north or elsewhere – could last months, and rebuilding will take years.” “We will be victorious only when [the rebuilding] is completed,” he said, according to the Times of Israel.
In referring to a potential northern front, Gantz, who used to serve as defense minister and is now a minister without a portfolio, was referring to a turbulent situation on Israel’s border with Lebanon, which is home to the militant group Hezbollah. In addition, Israel occupies a part of the Golan Heights, which is claimed by Syria.
According to the minister, Israel’s goal “is not just to defeat Hamas, but to promise that the south will be 100% paradise.”
“After we win, on any front that we fight, we will be dedicated to this rebuilding,” he went on to say.
Meanwhile, Gadi Shamni, a former commander of the IDF’s Gaza Division, told Israel’s Channel 12 that the US, his country’s primary ally, “expects us to destroy Hamas.” He believes Israel’s force is equal to the task and can complete the mission in six to eight months.
However, remarking on the conflict’s potential duration, ex-CIA head David Petraeus cautioned that Israel’s combat campaign in Gaza might be “Mogadishu on steroids,” referring to a violent 1993 struggle.
