Tel Aviv: Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Eylon Levy, the Israeli government spokesperson, has said that the days ahead are going to be long, hard and difficult and Israel will totally dismantle Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Eylon in an interview with ANI also stated that Israel is fighting its war against the Hamas and not against the Palestinians and Gaza.

“The days ahead are going to be long, they're going to be difficult. They're going to be hard, because this isn't another round of conflict. This isn't another round where Hamas will fire rockets, Israel will launch airstrikes and then everything will calm down after a few days. Hamas declared war on us, Hamas declared war with the worst terrorist attack in world history since 9/11. And so we're going to totally dismantle Hamas in the Gaza Strip. That is our goal in this war, total victory over Hamas”, said Eylon in an interview with ANI.

Not speculating on the operational matters and what it’s troops are going to do, Eylon stressed that Israel is going after every Hamas’s infrastructure while doing everything to minimize civilian casualties, including on the Palestinian side.

“We are going after every single Hamas tunnel, every single Hamas rocket launcher, every single Hamas commander, every single Hamas fighter, they're all legitimate targets…They all represent a clear and immediate danger to the security of our friends and family. And we are going after them in order to destroy them while doing everything we can to minimize civilian casualties, including on the Palestinian side as well”, said Eylon.

On India’s support amid the conflict, Eylon appreciated its support and that it wants more of that diplomatic support from friends and allies. He also stated that in the UN resolution, he would have wanted India to vote against it.

India on Friday (local time) abstained in the UN General Assembly from voting on a draft resolution submitted by Jordan, that called for an immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict, as it did not make any mention of the terrorist group Hamas.

“We appreciate India's support. Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu have spoken. Clearly in the UN resolution on Friday, we would have wanted India to vote against. It was an outrageous resolution. It didn't mention Hamas. It didn't call for an immediate return of the hostages. It's like having a UN resolution three weeks after 9/11 and not mentioning al Qaeda or the Twin Towers being brought down by plane strikes. So, we appreciate the support of international friends that are standing by Israel side and want Israel to defeat Hamas. And we want more of that diplomatic support, especially from our friends and allies”, said Eylon.

Speaking about the civilian casualties in Gaza, Eylon clearly stated that Israeli is fighting war against Hamas and not against Palestinians or Gaza. He also added that Israeli takes very seriously its obligations to get civilians out of harm's way.

“This is a war we're fighting against Hamas, not against the Palestinians not against Gaza, against the terror group that waged war on us with the October 7 massacre. Now we take very seriously our obligations to get civilians out of harm's way. That's why two and a half weeks ago, the Israeli Army gave people in northern Gaza 24 hours to evacuate for their own safety that 24 hours has since become two and a half weeks. And that's because northern Gaza is where Hamas has embedded itself under civilian areas. It is using civilians as human shields”, said Eylon.

On the hostages held in captivity by Hamas, Eylon stated that his country is going to do everything possible to bring back hostages home. In a grim account of the hostages held by Hamas, Eylon stated that there are ‘at least 239 hostages in Gaza’ many of them being children under the age of ten and five.

“At the moment, we know of at least 239 hostages in Gaza, I say at least, because we still have many missing persons, and we don't know whether they were abducted or whether Hamas simply destroyed their bodies. 239 innocent people, including 33 children under the age of 10, including 10 children under the age of five. There are children inside the Gaza Strip. Babies, their parents were murdered in front of them they were ripped out of their parents’ arms, and now they're being held in a dark tunnel in Gaza. by terrorists”, detailed Eylon.

“We are going to do everything, we can to bring our hostages home. We are fighting this war with two goals, one to bring back our stolen children, to make sure that Hamas can never steal our children again. And those two goals go hand in hand. We're sending our men in. We're going to do everything we can to bring back the hostages and we're going to make sure that when this war ends, there is no longer a jihadi organization in the Gaza strip that can abduct our people ever again”, he added.

On the four hostages released by Hamas earlier, Eylon stated that they were released because of the ‘Israeli military pressure and international diplomatic pressure’.

“Hamas released four hostages, and they did it because of pressure. They did it because of Israeli military pressure and international diplomatic pressure. And we're calling on the world all of Israel's friends around the world, including in India, to put all pressure on Hamas and all pressure on its supporters to release our hostages immediately because there is no excuse, no excuse for abducting children from their beds and holding them for three weeks as hostages in a dark tunnel in the Gaza Strip”, said Eylon.

Since its October 7 attack, Hamas had kidnapped over 200 civilians from Israeli border towns and dragged them across the Gazan border. These include several foreigners and dual citizenship holders.

Israeli forces have stepped up their ground offensive in Gaza as part of the military response to the Hamas attacks that officials say killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, with another 239 people taken hostage.