Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced on Monday that Israel will move into a “long” third phase of the war on the Gaza Strip.

Gallant told the American newspaper "The Wall Street Journal" that the Israeli forces will shift from what he called "the intensive maneuver phase of the war" to "different types of special operations," without specifying a start date for that, or details about these operations.

But he warned that "the next chapter of the war will last much longer."

While Israel has not officially announced the transition to the third phase of the war, Israeli reports say that the matter “will be on the agenda of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s meetings, on Tuesday, with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv,” in what is the fourth visit by Blinken since the start of the war in October 7 last.

On Thursday, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation revealed that the army “has moved to the third phase of the war in some areas of the Gaza Strip with smaller forces.”

According to Israeli media, the third phase requires moving from “intensive bombing to specific bombing and withdrawing the largest number of forces from inside the Gaza Strip to the border.”

Blinken will arrive in Israel, Monday evening, for a two-day visit, during which he will meet with the War Council on Tuesday, before heading to Ramallah in the West Bank, on Wednesday, as part of a tour of the region to discuss developments in the war on Gaza and prevent its expansion.

In this context, Gallant stressed in his statements to the American newspaper that “Israel will not abandon its goals of destroying Hamas, ending its control over Gaza, and liberating the remaining (Israeli) hostages (in Gaza).”

He explained that Hamas's sudden attack on Israeli towns and military bases in the Gaza Strip on October 7 "severely shook the Israelis' sense of security, and profoundly changed the way they look at the world around them."

He said: "October 7 was the bloodiest day for the Jewish people since 1945. The world needs to understand, this is different. The Hamas attack on October 7 represented a major failure in deterrence."