Israel’s chief of general staff says attacks on Gaza to continue throughout 2024

By Bekir Aydogan

ERBIL, Iraq (AA) - Israel’s military chief said Sunday that the war in Gaza will likely continue throughout the year.

Army Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi spoke about Israel’s attacks on Gaza during a visit to the occupied West Bank, according to a statement from the Israeli army.

He said 2024 will be "tough.”

"We will be at war in Gaza. We will fight in Gaza all year, that's for sure,” he emphasized.

Halevi indicated that the army, which is responsible for the return of displaced people in northern Israel, will carry out this task "by putting pressure on Hezbollah." Otherwise, "another war will be sparked."

Israeli Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Saturday that the army was focused on "dispersing Hamas" in the central part of the Gaza Strip and in the south, suggesting that "the military structure of Hamas has been completely disbanded" in the northern Gaza Strip.​​​​​​​

Israel has launched air and ground attacks on Gaza following a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, killing at least 22,800 Palestinians and injuring more than 58,400 others.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

The Israeli army announced that 510 soldiers have been killed since Oct. 7, including 176 soldiers killed since the start of the ground operation in Gaza on Oct. 28.

On Nov. 24, 81 Israeli and 240 Palestinian prisoners were released during a "humanitarian pause" which was granted for four days in the fighting and later extended for another three days.

Israel has meanwhile continued to detain and imprison thousands of Palestinians.

Since Oct. 7, a total of 326 Palestinians have been killed in attacks by Israeli forces and illegal Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

In ongoing clashes between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Hezbollah group on the Lebanese border since Oct. 8, a total of 28 Lebanese civilians, 148 Hezbollah members, five Israeli civilians and nine Israeli soldiers have been killed.

*Writing by Merve Berker