Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said at the Settlement Conference of 'Makor Rishon' and the Ofra settlement: 'I think within a few months we will be able to declare victory. Unequivocally.' When asked how the Gaza Strip would look in six months, he added: 'Hamas no longer exists there as a functioning entity - not militarily, not civilly, not governmentally. There is no body that knows how to pay salaries or manage anything. The entire population is concentrated from the Morag axis southward in a completely sterile area where there is no Hamas, but there is a humanitarian response.'

