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Israel-Gaza live updates: IDF claims it will be fighting Hamas in Gaza for 5 years
IDF official admits insurgency will be long and difficult.
As the Israel-Hamas war continues, efforts to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization are ongoing, and Israeli forces have launched an assault in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Latest headlines:
- IDF admits it'll be fighting Hamas insurgency in Gaza for 5 years
- 16 killed in strike on Gaza school, police unit
- Biden speaks with Netanyahu on efforts to finalize cease-fire deal: White House
- Hezbollah fires 200 rockets, drones toward Israel
- Israel assassinates highest ranking Hezbollah commander since Oct. 8
IDF gives more details on strike on school
Israel Defense Forces released details about a strike on a school in Nuseirat refugee camp that Gaza officials said killed 16 and wounded at least 50.
The IDF claimed its intelligence found that the site allegedly "served as a hideout and operational infrastructure from which attacks against IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip were directed and carried out."
"Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken in order to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise aerial surveillance and additional intelligence," the IDF said without disclosing what steps were taken.
-ABC News' Dorit Long
IDF admits it'll be fighting Hamas insurgency in Gaza for 5 years
Israel is planning for a long insurgency against Hamas, saying it expects Hamas to still exist in five years, but it said the group is no longer capable of perpetrating an Oct. 7-style attack.
"Will you and me be talking five years from now about Hamas as a terror organization in Gaza? The answer is yes," Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari told ABC News.
Hagari is the first Israeli official to publicly admit that the insurgency will be long and difficult, in stark contrast to the bombast of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who continues to vow the quick destruction of Hamas.
Gaza, and even to some degree Hezbollah, are "perpetual wars" distracting Israel from what he called their main enemy, Iran, a senior Israeli official told ABC News.
-ABC News' Matt Gutman
16 killed in strike on Gaza school, police unit
Sixteen people were killed and 50 others injured in a strike on a school in Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The school housed displaced people and had a mobile police unit inside it.
Israel has not yet commented on the strike, ABC News has asked the IDF for comment.
-ABC News' Victoria Beaule
Israel conducts strikes in Lebanon overnight
The Israel Defence Forces said on Saturday that it struck "a number" of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah responded with an aerial attack on what they said was a military position in the north on Saturday morning.
The IDF said the drone was intercepted and the remnants fell in an open area.
