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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israeli defense minister declares 2024 year of war and victory

Yoav Gallant called for the Israeli society to consolidate in order to achieve his country’s military goals in the Gaza Strip

TEL AVIV, March 21. /TASS/. The current year will be "the year of war and also the year of victory" for Israel, the Jewish state’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.

"During the defense ministry’s annual planning conference, I emphasized <…> that 2024 will be the year of war and also the year of victory," the minister wrote on the X social network.

He called for the Israeli society to consolidate in order to achieve his country’s military goals in the Gaza Strip.

"In order to ensure our qualitative and quantitative advantage, we will need to mobilize all parts of the nation and all parts of the society. This is the only way to ensure our victory in this campaign and our very existence in our country," he added.

Earlier, the minister has spoken in favor of broader enlistment that will include all social groups, for example ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are currently de-facto exempt from the military service.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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