Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant vowed to expand the ground operations of the occupation army in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, saying that “smoke will continue to cover the Strip until we achieve our goals.”
Gallant said that the activity of the Israeli forces in Khan Yunis is large and that it will escalate soon. He added – after an aerial tour in the skies of the Gaza Strip – that smoke will continue to surround the Gaza Strip until Israel achieves what he described as its war goals of undermining the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and recovering the detainees.
The Israeli minister added, “I just came off an air tour with the 100th Squadron, over the Gaza Strip. I saw the forces operating in the north, center, and south of the Strip. Things seem unusual. I witnessed a direct attack by the Air Force in the south of Gaza City. The accuracy and quality of implementation are important.” “The perfect coordination with the forces is very impressive.”
The Wall Street Journal quoted Israeli officials as saying that despite the air and ground campaign in Gaza, the goal of destroying Hamas has not been achieved. She added, citing American intelligence estimates, that Hamas still possesses enough ammunition to strike Israel for several months.
American intelligence estimates indicated that Israeli forces killed between 20 and 30% of the total number of Hamas fighters.
The newspaper said that officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden have begun to reduce their expectations for the Israeli war, from completely destroying Hamas to weakening its security threat.
It is noteworthy that the occupation army failed to recover any detainees through military operations in the Gaza Strip, and some of its operations resulted in the killing of detainees. Israel recovered 110 detainees through an exchange deal during the temporary truce.