Israel is preparing for ground invasion of Gaza and timing will be... : Netanyahu

The war between Israel and Hamas entered its 20th day on Thursday, amid this Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement that was until now just being said by the forces of the country.

In a televised statement, Netanyahu said: “Israel is preparing itself for a ground invasion.”

The Prime Minister, however, declined to provide any details on the timing or other information about the operation.

Who would decide timing of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza?

On when Israeli forces would go into the Palestinian enclave, controlled by Hamas, Netanyahu said, the decision would be taken by his government’s special war Cabinet, which includes the leader of one of the centrist opposition parties.

‘Just the beginning’

In his address, the Israeli prime minister also said, “We have already killed thousands of terrorists and this is only the beginning.”

“Simultaneously, we are preparing for a ground invasion. I will not elaborate on when, how or how many. I will also not elaborate on the various calculations we are making, which the public is mostly unaware of and that is how things should be.”

Israel has been carrying out intense bombardment of the densely populated Gaza Strip following the October 7 Hamas onslaught on Israeli communities that killed around 1,400 people.

According to the Health Ministry of Gaza, more than 6,500 Palestinians have been killed in the bombardments.

Netanyahu, who has been asked by 80 per cent of his country’s population to take responsibility for the security failures that led to the Hamas attack on October 7, said all involved would be called to account.

“The scandal will be fully investigated,” he said.

“Everyone will have to give answers, me too. But all this will happen only after the war,” the Israeli prime minister added.

Meanwhile, a report by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday citied US and Israeli officials saying Israel had agreed to delay the invasion of Gaza for now, so the United States could rush missile defences to the region.

With inputs from agencies