Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said on Monday that his ground forces would storm the entire area of Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, threatening at the same time Palestinian resistance militants in the south.

This came in Galant's statements during an assessment of the operational situation on the Gaza Strip border, with the participation of the Commander of the Israeli Army's Southern Command, Yaron Finkelman, according to a statement by the Ministry of Defense, reported by Army Radio.

Gallant said, "The fighters of the Golani Elite Infantry Brigade returned to the Shuja'iya neighborhood (east of Gaza City) to close the circle, and this time they will not leave until all the terrorist infrastructure present there is eliminated," he said.

According to the statement, "The minister was briefed on the battles taking place in the Shuja'iya neighborhood and the Jabalia camp to eliminate Hamas targets."

Gallant said that the current operation "will lead to storming the entire Gaza City area and the northern Gaza Strip."

Gallant stated: “At the same time, the Israeli army began operating in the southern Gaza Strip, and the fate of the terrorists there will be the same and worse than the fate of those in the north,” he said.

The Israeli ground forces are facing fierce resistance in the northern Gaza Strip, despite the military operations accompanied by violent air and artillery bombardment that resulted in the killing and wounding of thousands of Palestinian civilians, most of them children and women.

The Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip has been continuing since October 27, including a week-long truce that ended on December 1, concluded with Qatari-Egyptian-American mediation, during which an exchange of prisoners took place and limited humanitarian aid was brought into the Strip, which is inhabited by about 2.3 million Palestinians.

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which, as of Monday afternoon, has left 15,899 Palestinians dead and more than 42,000 wounded, in addition to massive infrastructure destruction and an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to official Palestinian and UN sources.