Israel’s campaign in southern Gaza will last for months, says defence minister

The Israeli army has raided and detained staff at two of the last functioning hospitals in Gaza’s north, where the defence minister said that troops were working to completely clear out Hamas militants.

The raids came as the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, warned the campaign in Gaza’s south will persist for months.

Israel bombarded towns across southern Gaza on Tuesday with airstrikes, killing at least 45 Palestinians and pressing ahead with its offensive with renewed backing from the US.

The air and ground war, launched in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack in Israel, has killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians, displaced some 1.9 million, demolished much of northern Gaza and sparked attacks on US and Israeli targets across the region.

Mr Gallant said Israeli forces were entering Hamas’s tunnel network in northern Gaza as part of a “final clearing” of militants from the region.

The densely built urban north, including Gaza City, has seen ferocious fighting between troops and militants, with Palestinian health officials reporting dozens of people killed in bombardment in recent days.

Israeli troops have raided a series of hospitals and shelters in the north, detaining men in a search for militants and expelling others taking refuge there.

Mr Gallant said that in southern Gaza, operations will take “months”, including the military’s assault on Khan Younis, the territory’s second largest city.

“We will not stop until we reach our goals,” he said.

Israel’s military says 131 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground offensive. Israel says it has killed some 7,000 militants, without providing evidence, and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, saying it uses them as human shields when it fights in residential areas.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Tuesday the death toll since the start of the war had risen to more than 19,600. It does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.