War May Last 7 Months More, Says Israel After Seizing Gaza’s Border with Egypt  

The Israeli military on Wednesday claimed to have effective control over the Palestinian territory’s entire land border amid its offensive in Rafah after it seized a buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces gained “operational control” over the “Philadelphi Corridor”, the 14 km-long corridor along Gaza’s only border with Egypt.

Israel’s National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said the war in Gaza would continue throughout 2024 at least. The Jewish state has earlier said the fighting will not end until it “dismantled” all Hamas infrastructures.

Israeli forces continued their offensive in different parts of Rafah despite an International Court of Justice (ICJ) order to cease attacks in the southern Gaza city, 2.3 million people had taken shelter during the initial days of the war.

As Israel’s claims, it has directly captured the Gaza-Egypt border, the Strip’s only land border.

Despite the ICJ, the UN’s top court, ordering Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, on Wednesday, Israeli tanks entered the interior parts of Rafah for the first time.

On Wednesday, Brazil withdrew its ambassador to Israel over its military campaign in the Palestinian territory.