Israel Army Chief Says Gaza War 'Will Last Many More Months'

Chief of the Israeli General Staff Major-General Herzi Halevi (Israeli Defense Ministry)
Chief of the Israeli General Staff Major-General Herzi Halevi (Israeli Defense Ministry)
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Israel Army Chief Says Gaza War 'Will Last Many More Months'

Chief of the Israeli General Staff Major-General Herzi Halevi (Israeli Defense Ministry)
Chief of the Israeli General Staff Major-General Herzi Halevi (Israeli Defense Ministry)

Israel's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip will last "for many more months," Israel's army chief Herzi Halevi said on Tuesday.

The war "will continue for many more months, and we will work with different methods so that our achievements are preserved for a long time", Halevi said at a televised press conference, according to AFP.

"There are no magic solutions, there are no shortcuts when it comes to thoroughly dismantling a terrorist organisation except being stubborn and determined in the fighting."

Halevi said the army was concentrating its efforts in the south of the Gaza Strip, adding that many "terrorists have been eliminated and hundreds have been taken captive".

So far, Israel's relentless assault has killed more than 19,450 Gazans, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Israel began its devastating air and ground offensive following the October 7 Hamas attacks, which killed around 1,140 people in southern Israel, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”