Israel's brutal war on Gaza to last two more months, officials say

Israeli estimates suggest that the war on Gaza will continue for up to another two months, during which intensive and indiscriminate airstrikes, artillery shelling, and ground incursions will persist, according to Israeli officials.

The Israeli state-owned broadcasting company Kan cited Israeli officials as saying that there will be no ceasefire at the end of these two months.

Instead, continued activities will be monitored with the assistance of Israeli forces that will remain in the Gaza Strip. 

The continuation of Israel's war over this period is likely to lead to tens of thousands more Palestinian casualties. Gaza's health ministry said on Sunday that over 18,000 people had been killed by Israel in Gaza so far, most of them women and children.

300 of them were killed in the past 24 hours alone.

Israeli analysts also believe there will be attempts to reach additional prisoner exchange deals to secure the release of Israeli hostages during these two months.

Israel will allow some residents of the Gaza Strip to return to their homes at some point during the next two months, according to the sources which Kan quoted. This is both a US demand from Israel and a practical necessity, they said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously informed US President Joe Biden that Israel estimates that fighting in the city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip will continue for about a month.

Netanyahu conveyed this assessment to Biden during their conversation last Friday, where Biden set a deadline for ending the fighting in the southern Gaza Strip within a month, while Netanyahu estimated it would take several months.