Israel Defense Minister: War Could Take "Years."

https://timesofisrael.com

Israeli aircraft bombarded the southern Gaza Strip overnight in apparent preparation for expanding the military’s ground offensive, the military said Tuesday, even as continued fighting near Gaza City challenged the army’s claim that it was largely in control of the north of the Strip after 80 days of war.

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other leaders vowing to continue fighting, despite growing international pressure to wind down the battle and calls at home for a deal to free hostages held in Gaza, the military appeared poised Tuesday for a newly intensified push into the central and southern parts of the Strip.

“This is a long, tough war. It has costs, heavy costs, but its justification is the highest that can be,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Knesset lawmakers Tuesday, hours after the army raised the death toll from the ground offensive to 158 soldiers. He vowed Israel would punish Hamas over its brutal October 7 attack, “whether it takes months or years.”