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Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told fighters along the Gaza Strip on Thursday that he anticipates intense fighting for the next month or two at least, according to Israeli news outlet MivzakLive.
Gallant told members of Israel's naval commando unit that intense fighting with the Hamas militant group will continue in the coming weeks during a visit to Shayetet 13, a base on Israel's northern Mediterranean coast.
"I estimate that in the next month or two at least there will be intense fighting, and after that there will be many operations in which the flotilla will have something to do—until there is no military threat from the Gaza Strip, and we will have freedom of action to do whatever we want at any given moment," Gallant said, according to MivzakLive.
On October 7, Hamas led a surprise attack on Israel, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing that his country was at war. Over the past several weeks, fighting between Hamas and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has continued, while many across the globe have called for a cease-fire. There have been more than 12,000 casualties reported across both sides, the Associated Press reported.
News of the meeting with the unit and Navy Commander Major General David Sa'ar Salma comes during news of a deal with Hamas that calls for the release of at least 50 hostages being held in Gaza.
Gallant told the unit that it must "destroy the organization facing you."
"Otherwise, you have no deterrence that will allow life, and you have no deterrence that will allow life in the Middle East," he said. "If Jewish blood becomes lawless, then everyone does as he pleases. If he has a price that cannot be beared, we are treated with respect."
Gallant told the unit that this break in fighting will be brief.
"What is required of you during this lull is to organize, prepare, conduct debriefings, arm yourself and prepare for the future," Gallant said, according to MivzakLive. "There will be a continuation, because we have to complete the victory and create the levers for the next groups of abductees who will come only as a result of pressure."
The news from Israel's Mediterranean coast comes as pro-Palestinian protests continued in the U.S., including during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in which protesters glued themselves to the road along the route.
Pro-Palestinian groups also announced plans to stage boycotts and protests on Black Friday.
Protesters are calling for a permanent cease-fire in the region, with organizers saying they want to send a message to the Biden administration to end its participation in "genocide of Palestinians," Walter Smolarek, the media coordinator for the ANSWER Coalition, told Newsweek.
Roz Rothstein, co-founder and chief executive officer of StandWithUs, an Israel education organization, told Newsweek that a cease-fire would only serve to keep Hamas in power in Gaza.
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Sheri Kasprzak is a Newsweek editor based in Providence, Rhode Island. Her focus is reporting on finance and economy. Sheri ... Read more