The Israeli Ambassador to Russia, Alexander Ben Zvi, told Russian news agency TASS that Israel will launch a ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
“I will say that the decision has been made. This decision has to do with achieving our goals, which we have already talked about. This is the destruction of all Hamas terrorist organizations and the release of hostages. And so, this cannot be done without a ground operation, among other things. Therefore, we can say that the decision has been made,” Ben Zvi said.
“We should not forget that over 1,400 of our people have been killed… We must stop all this, we have to deal with it,” he stressed.
Ben Zvi did not specify when the ground operation would begin.
The Gaza Strip has been subjected to Israeli land, sea and air bombardment since Hamas and other Palestinian factions launched operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7.
The “Al-Aqsa Flood” was met with the Israeli “Iron Swords” operation, as the Israeli army launched raids on Gaza Strip, which is inhabited by more than two million Palestinians who suffer from deteriorating living conditions, as a result of an ongoing Israeli siege since 2006.
The death toll from the Israeli bombing amounted to about 3,859 dead and more than 13,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip, and 69 dead and more than 1,300 wounded in the West Bank.
On the Israeli side, more than 1,400 people were killed, including 291 officers and soldiers, while Hamas captured more than 200 Israelis.
