Israel to maintain security control over Gaza after conflict: PM

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his country will maintain security control over the Gaza Strip after the ongoing conflict with Hamas ends.

Israel will have "complete security control and control of whatever enters Gaza," Netanyahu told a press conference in Tel Aviv.

He said that over the past two days, Israeli forces killed "dozens" of militants in the Palestinian enclave and destroyed rocket launchers.

"The war continues on all fronts... until we achieve total victory," he said, adding that the recently revised 582-billion-shekel (about 155 billion U.S. dollars) wartime budget, which included an extra 55 billion shekels for defense, "enables the military to fulfill the goals of the war and achieve victory."

He said the war is likely to continue for "many months."

Israel has been continuing the devastating bombardments of Gaza despite international calls for a ceasefire. The assaults were launched on Oct. 7, 2023, following a Hamas attack that resulted in about 1,200 deaths in Israel. According to the Gaza-based Health Ministry on Thursday, the Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the strip has risen to 24,620.