JERUSALEM 

Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi claimed Tuesday evening that a plan to replace Hamas in Gaza will begin soon.

“We can’t get rid of Hamas as an idea,” Hanegbi said at the Herzliya Security Conference at Reichman University in Tel Aviv as cited by The Times of Israel newspaper.

“There we need an alternative idea,” he said. “A plan to replace Hamas will begin in northern Gaza in the coming days.”

The national security adviser said Israel is discussing with the US “how the UN, European countries, and moderate Arab states can find an alternative to Hamas' governance in Gaza.”

Israel has failed to achieve any of its stated goals in the Gaza war, including the elimination of Hamas and the release of Israelis held captive by the Palestinian group.

Hanegbi acknowledged that Israel is going through “one of the most difficult times,” saying the blame for the situation could be debated.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since the Hamas attack.

Nearly 37,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 86,200 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul