Israel has destroyed around two thirds of Hamas' fighting regiments in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, vowing to press on with the war until "complete victory."
"There are two stages to the fighting; The first is destroying the Hamas regiments, those are their organized combat frameworks," Netanyahu said at a news conference in Tel Aviv.
"Up until now sixteen or seventeen out of twenty-four have been destroyed. After that there is the (stage) of clearing the territory (of militants). The first action is usually shorter, the second usually takes longer."
Holding up a photo of a fallen Israeli soldier, Netanyahu said troops will not have died in vain and pledged fighting would continue until Hamas has been defeated and the hostages in Gaza recovered.
"Victory will take many more months but we are determined to achieve it," Netanyahu said.
He said he has informed the United States that he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of any postwar scenario.
The announcement exposed the deep divisions that have emerged between the close allies three months into Israel’s war against Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
The US has called on Israel to scale back its offensive and said that the establishment of a Palestinian state should be part of the “day after.”
In the nationally broadcast news conference, Netanyahu rejected the idea of Palestinian statehood. He said he had relayed his positions to the Americans.
“In any future arrangement ... Israel needs security control all territory west of the Jordan,” Netanyahu said. “This collides with the idea of sovereignty. What can you do?”
“The prime minister needs to be capable of saying no to our friends,” he added.
