JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday a total victory against Hamas in the Gaza Strip will ensure further peace agreements in the region.

"It is the only way we can ensure more historic peace agreements," Netanyahu told a group of Israeli soldiers in West Jerusalem as cited by his office.

"Victory will lay a fatal blow on Iran's axis of evil: Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels and of course, Hamas," he added.

Netanyahu claimed that the Israeli army has destroyed 75% of Hamas’ battalions in the Gaza Strip.

Israel already has peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan. It signed US-sponsored deals in 2020 to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

Tel Aviv also sought to establish ties with Saudi Arabia before the outbreak of the conflict in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7.

Last month, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that normalizing Israel’s relations with Saudi Arabia will be a key element to ending wars.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on Gaza following an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, killing at least 27,478 Palestinians and injuring 66,835 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza's population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar