Israeli leaders vow to continue Gaza war until ‘complete victory’

By Anadolu staff

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Cabinet officials vowed on Tuesday to continue a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip until achieving “complete victory.”

It came hours after at least 24 Israeli soldiers were killed in an ambush in the Palestinian enclave on Monday, in the worst single-day death toll since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7.

“We bow our heads in memory of our fallen, and yet we do not for a moment stop striving for an irreplaceable goal – the achievement of complete victory,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a joint video statement with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz.

“Together we will fight – and together we will win,” he said.

Gallant said the Israeli army “will do everything that is required” to achieve victory.

“Our forces are operating deep in enemy territory, in Khan Younis; fighters from the Paratroopers, the 7th Brigade, from Givati, across the entire southern region,” he said.

The Israeli army early Tuesday said it has completed a siege around Khan Younis, which Tel Aviv says is a Hamas stronghold.

Gantz, for his part, said the army will continue its mission “to ensure the safety of Israel.”

“We will do it together, we will do it in unity. I ask to strengthen the bereaved families, to know that we have to continue.”

Israel has mounted a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas which Tel Aviv says killed 1,200 people.

At least 25,490 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 63,354 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio