Hamas will be defeated by end of 2025, Judea and Samaria annexed by end of 2026, minister says

Israel’s finance minister says newly approved Gaza ground operation will lead to total destruction of nearly all of the Gaza Strip, total defeat of Hamas by year’s end, and mass migration of Gazans.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s new ground operation in the Gaza Strip will lead to the dismantling of Hamas and an end to the terror group’s rule over the coastal enclave by the end of 2025, a senior Israeli minister said..

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) addressed the right-wing newspaper Makor Rishon‘s Settlements Conference in the Samaria town of Ofra on Tuesday, laying out the Security Cabinet’s plans for the upcoming ground offensive in Gaza and his own agenda for the remainder of the government’s term.

Echoing comments he made on Monday, Smotrich said that the annexation of Judea and Samaria is on the government’s agenda, adding that it will be implemented before the next election, currently slated for October 2026.

“We will do it [apply sovereignty], God willing, even during this term,” Smotrich said. “We are in a historic opportunity. There is readiness within Israeli society and also within the American administration.”

Smotrich expressed optimism that Operation Gideon’s Chariots, the plan for the takeover of Gaza that was approved by the Security Cabinet on Monday, will result in the defeat of Hamas.

The plan, which calls for Israel to seize and permanently hold territory in Gaza while evacuating the civilian population to southern Gaza, includes the demolition of virtually all of the Gaza Strip, the finance minister claimed.

“Within a few months, we will be able to declare that we have won. Gaza will be totally destroyed,” Smotrich declared. “In another six months, Hamas won’t exist as a functioning entity.”

Gaza’s entire civilian population, numbering some two million people. will be “concentrated” in the current Israeli buffer zone between the Philadelphi Corridor on the Egyptian border and the Morag Corridor, encompassing the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis.

Given the difficult conditions in the humanitarian zone, most Gazans will seek to move abroad, Smotrich said.

“They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places.”