Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the “intense phase” of fighting Hamas in Gaza is nearly over, allowing forces to move to the northern border with Lebanon to confront Hezbollah.
 
Netanyahu said he expected the ground operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to be completed soon. But he said that “doesn’t mean the war is about to end”, with action continuing until Hamas was completely driven from power.
 
Hezbollah has been launching missiles, rockets and drones into northern Israel in support of Hamas since the day after the 7 October attacks in southern Israel, when gunmen from Gaza killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others as hostages.
 
More than 37,620 people have been killed in Gaza during the military campaign that Israel launched in response, according to the Palestinian territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

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