The Times of Israel reports: “The head of Israel’s air force said Thursday that the Hamas terror group was close to being defeated and that the military was prepared to shift fighting to the north despite the lengthy war.

‘We are in the midst of the longest war in our history since the War of Independence,’ Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar said at a graduation ceremony for new air force pilots. ‘We have been fighting for almost nine months without respite, tirelessly.’

‘Hamas in Gaza will be defeated soon,’ he said.

The comment was the latest from Israeli officials indicating that the war in Gaza sparked by the October 7 attack was nearing a place where Hamas could no longer muster a cogent fighting force, while also tempering expectations for the total elimination of the terror group.

Israeli officials have said that the army has defeated all but four Hamas battalions in the Gaza Strip, including two in the southern city of Rafah, and two more in central Gaza. Several of the group’s top leaders, including Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and armed wing head Mohammed Deif nonetheless remain at large…”