JERUSALEM – Israel pressed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday after telling its main backer, the United States, that the war to crush Hamas would last “more than several months.”

The war began after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.

Promising to destroy Hamas and bring home an estimated 240 hostages held by militants in Gaza, Israel launched a massive military offensive that left swathes of the besieged territory in ruins.

According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, the war has killed more than 18,700 people, mostly women and children.

The ministry said early Friday that dozens of people were killed or injured in Israeli strikes on Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, while witnesses said airstrikes on Nuseirat in central Gaza killed several people.

Late Thursday, crowds of Palestinians with flashlights searched among the rubble of buildings for survivors of an Israeli attack in the southern city of Rafah, near the Egyptian border.

“This is a residential area, women and children live here, as you can see. This neighborhood is in ruins,” said Abu Omar, who lives in Rafah.

“Three rockets on a residential area that has nothing to do with militant activity.”

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops were engaged in fighting with militants in two districts of Gaza City late Thursday.

“There will be even tougher fighting in the coming days,” he said.

The Israeli military said on Friday that a total of 117 soldiers had died in Gaza since the ground offensive began.

It also said the body of a hostage named Elia Toledano, who was among those kidnapped on October 7, had been recovered and returned to Israel.

“We are working with security agencies and all intelligence and operational resources to return all hostages home,” the army said.

“WE WILL DESTROY YOU”

While the United States has strongly supported Israel’s response to Hamas attacks, it has urged its ally to do more to minimize civilian casualties.

On Thursday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv.

During their meeting, Gallant warned that Israel’s fight with Hamas “will take some time – it will take more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them.”

In a speech in Washington, US President Joe Biden called on Israel to do more to protect civilians in Gaza.

“I want them to focus on how to save civilian lives — not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful,” said Biden, whose administration has provided billions of dollars in military aid to Israel.

White House spokesman John Kirby, meanwhile, said Washington was not dictating “terms” to Israel and that the timeline given by Gallant was “in line” with what Israeli officials had previously said.

Netanyahu vowed on Thursday to continue “until victory” and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said the war would continue “with or without international support.”

Sullivan will travel to the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday for talks with Palestinian Authority leaders, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

There has been an increase in violence in the West Bank, ruled by the Palestinian Authority (PA), since October 7.

There, the Palestinian Health Ministry said 11 people had been killed since the Israeli military launched a raid on the town of Jenin and its refugee camp earlier this week.

The war in Gaza has increased popular support for Hamas in the West Bank and further weakened the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.

“Despair, Hunger, Fear”

This week, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly supported a non-binding resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, with Washington voting against it.

The United Nations estimates that 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, warned that there was a risk of a “collapse of civil order” in Gaza.

“Everywhere you go, people are desperate, hungry and afraid,” said Lazzarini, who recently returned from Gaza.

According to the latest update on the situation in Gaza by the United Nations Humanitarian Agency (OCHA), more than a third of households in the territory have reported severe hunger, while more than 90 percent “go to bed hungry.”

According to the Palestinian telecommunications company PalTel, mobile and internet communications were disrupted on Thursday, adding to the desperation of Gazans.

“We regret to announce that all telecommunications services in the Gaza Strip have been lost due to the disruption of key fiber optic routes on the Israeli side,” a message on social media said.

“Gaza is… without power again,” PalTel said, with global network monitor Netblocks confirming the blackout.

Hamas’s media office described the blackout as a “deliberate crime that exacerbates the humanitarian crisis” by making it difficult for rescuers to access injured people.

Houthi attack

Even as humanitarian needs increase, aid distribution has largely stopped in most parts of the Gaza Strip, with a limited exception in the Rafah region, according to the United Nations.

COGAT, the Israel Defense Ministry’s body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said the military “allows tactical breaks for humanitarian reasons.”

One took place in a Rafah neighborhood for four hours on Thursday to give civilians a chance to replenish supplies such as food and water, it said.

Fears of a wider regional conflagration remain, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility Thursday for an attack on a cargo ship through a Red Sea strait crucial to world shipping.

According to a US official, the missile missed its target, although the Iran-backed rebels said the container ship Maersk Gibraltar was “attacked with a drone and the hit was direct.”

Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the attack was intended in retaliation for the “oppression of the Palestinian people.”