Gaza Slaughter May Last Into 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s brutal campaign in Gaza could continue into 2025, Israeli TV reported.

The report from Israel’s Channel 12 said Netanyahu made the comments during a meeting with local council chiefs from kibbutzim and other communities near the Gaza border.

Netanyahu told them that Israel’s current assessment is that operations in Gaza will continue into next year. Before the New Year, an Israeli military spokesman said Israeli forces would be fighting in Gaza for the entire year of 2024.

The Israeli slaughter in Gaza has already killed over 24,000 Palestinians, and more than 60,000 have been wounded in just over three months. Many more are expected to die of starvation and disease caused by the brutal siege unless there is an immediate ceasefire and a major humanitarian relief effort.

Martin Griffiths, the UN’s relief chief, told CNN this week that the “great majority” of the 400,000 Palestinians in Gaza who the UN determined are at risk of starving are “actually in famine, not just at risk of famine.”

Netanyahu has the incentive to continue the onslaught in Gaza for as long as possible, as his political career is in peril. Polling has shown the majority of Israelis want him to step down after the war. Some US officials are worried that Netanyahu might see provoking a major war in Lebanon as key to his political survival.