Netanyahu predicts it will be a long war of more than a year

The offensive on the south of Gaza by the troops that already control the north of the territory is “imminent,” says the newspaper, which points out that the troops have the objective of killing the main leaders of the Islamist movement, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa, as well as dealing a definitive blow to Hamas’s military capabilities.

“This will be a very long war. Now we are not even close to having achieved half of our goals“an unnamed source told the British newspaper.

In its strategy, Israel is conditioned by operational advances on the ground, by the international pressure it receives and by the opportunities to release the hostages that Hamas holds, the sources point out. The next military operations of troops on the ground will probably last “months and not weeks”according to a source, and then there will be a “transition and stabilization” phase that could last until the end of 2024. The Financial Times further adds that, unlike previous campaigns in Gaza, this time there will be no clear and differentiated end. of hostilities.

Target, Hamas Leaders

Likewise, Netanyahu’s Government has a plan to kill Hamas leaders who have taken refuge in different countries such as Qatar, Lebanon or Turkey, as soon as the Gaza war ends, the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported. which cites “official Israeli sources.”

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has already given the necessary orders to execute the plans to the Mossad secret service, and although the plans are confidential, there was a leak on November 22 that made them known, according to the newspaper. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said at the time that Hamas leaders were “living on borrowed time.”

The plans began to be designed on October 7, when Hamas launched an unexpected attack against Israel, but it has been, above all, the need to keep Qatar as a mediator for the release of hostages that has delayed the covert operations.

The top leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, has lived as a refugee in Qatar for more than ten years, while the leader of its political office, Ismael Haniye, lives in Turkey, and other leaders of the movement are in Lebanon.

Israel already tried to kill Meshaal in 1997 when he lived in Amman, with a commando who tried to poison him with an injection in the ear, but failed, and the perpetrators were arrested by Jordan; Then, the Jordanian government demanded that Israel send the antidote to the poison and also managed to get Israel to release the movement’s founding sheikh, Ahmed Yasin.