The Gaza war will not end this year and will continue until early 2025, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's national security adviser said on Wednesday.
Tzachi Hanegbi told the Israeli public broadcaster KAN that the war is expected to continue for another seven months.
The Israeli army "is now in control of 75% of the Philadelphi Route," Hanegbi claimed. "I believe we will be in control of it all with time."
"Together with the Egyptians, we must ensure weapon smuggling is prevented from Egypt into Gaza," Hanegbi said.
Israel expanded its ground offensive in Rafah on Tuesday, with its tanks reaching the center of the city.
Israel's current expansion of its incursion into the city makes the Israeli army close to fully control the border area between Gaza and Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, a demilitarized buffer zone running along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Before the launch of the Israeli military operation against Rafah on May 6, the city was home to over 1.5 million displaced Palestinians who fled their areas across the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli onslaught that started on Oct. 7, 2023, following a Hamas attack.
Israel has since killed at least 36,170 Palestinians, the vast majority being women and children, and injured over 81,400 others, according to local health authorities.
More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of "genocide" at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to halt its offensive in Rafah immediately.
