A fireball rises above a building during an Israeli attack in Rafah, Gaza, on Saturday, December 9. (Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images)
Israel's national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said the US had not given Israel a deadline for completing military operations against Hamas in Gaza.
“They understand that they cannot tell the IDF how long it will take to achieve the goals. The good thing is that they have the same goals. … It is correct to assume that we cannot measure this in weeks, and I am not sure it could be measured in months,” Hanegbi said.
CNN has previously reported that U.S. officials expect the Israeli operation against the southern end of the strip to last several weeks before transitioning, possibly in January, to a less intensive, more localized strategy targeting specific Hamas affiliates. Militants and leaders targeted several high-ranking administration officials. The White House is deeply concerned about how Israel's operations will develop in the next few weeks, a senior US government official said. The U.S. had strongly warned Israel in “tough” and “direct” talks, the official said, that Israeli forces could not repeat the devastating tactics they used in the north and must do more to limit civilian casualties.
Hanegbi added that he did not believe the Hamas leadership expected the scale of Israel's response to the Oct. 7 attacks, which killed about 1,200 people.
“I don't think (Yahya) Sinwar (Hamas leader in Gaza) realized that the IDF will actually reach any desired point within the Gaza Strip and kill over 7,000 terrorists,” he said.
“This is the minimum estimate, it could be higher as we don't know everything,” he added. “We are getting very close to Hamas’ control and command centers in Jabalia and Shejaiya, strongholds of ongoing resistance in the northern Gaza Strip. And in the south we are working flat out.”
Earlier, Israel Defense Forces issued what it called an “urgent appeal” for civilians to leave neighborhoods in the southern city of Khan Younis as clashes continued in various parts of the strip.
On the Houthi threat: Hanegbi said Israel was prepared to act against efforts by Yemen's Houthi rebels to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea if the international community did not do so.
Hanegbi told Israel's Channel 12 on Saturday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden and European leaders about the Houthis targeting commercial ships with alleged Israeli ties.
Netanyahu told them that “Israel is giving the world some time to organize to prevent this. But if there is no global agreement, because this is a global problem, we will act to lift this sea siege.” , he said.
CNN reported this week that the U.S. is considering increasing protection for merchant ships around a key shipping route in the Red Sea, according to military officials.