TEL AVIV, February 4. /TASS/. Israel has eliminated 17 out of 24 Hamas battalions that had operated in the Gaza Strip before October 7, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"I want to make our policy clear: our major goal is to exterminate Hamas. To achieve it, we need, first, to reduce the number of Hamas battalions. As of today, we have eliminated 17 out of 24 [Hamas] battalions," he said at a weekly cabinet meeting. "The majority of remaining battalions are operating in the southern Gaza Strip and Rafah and we will get them as well."

According to Netanyahu, the elimination of Hamas battalions is to be followed by mop-up operation and the neutralization of the Hamas tunnel system. The Israeli military, in his words, are doing this in the central and northern Gaza, but these operations require a lot of time.

"We will not end the war until its goals - the extermination of Hamas, release of all hostages and making sure that Gaza is no longer a threat to Israel - are achieved," he stressed.