Reminder: My knowledge cut-off date is January 2022. Answer: As of my last update, Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by several countries and organizations, including the United States, the European Union, Israel, and others.

Netanyahu, speaking on Sunday on a podcast with Dan Senor, who helped to run the US occupation of Iraq after the 2003 invasion, suggested Israel would maintain an “active military presence” in Gaza for a long time. Israel has yet to destroy the last four of 24 Hamas battalions, he said, adding that these battalions were in Rafah, where more than 1mn Palestinians have sought refuge.

 “But the important thing to understand is that once you destroy these battalions, you haven’t eliminated all the Hamas fighters,” he said. “They’re still there, but they have a harder time organising [a major attack].” The defeat of these battalions would coincide with a period he described as “mop-up”, similar to operations carried out by Israel’s military in northern Gaza in recent weeks.

 Netanyahu said the final stage, in which Israel would consider the war officially over but would retain the right to enter Gaza for military operations as it believes necessary, “is a while away”. 

 The Israeli prime minister declined to say whether that would imply a years-long occupation of Gaza, or “it could be actions inside Gaza. You don’t have to reoccupy, you just have to demilitarise it actively, [given] the distances are so small.” “You do what you have to do,” he said. “We’ve discovered that anyplace we left . . . immediately the radicals took over.” Netanyahu conceded that the end of the war would require “civilian

 administration, which we hope to do with local Gazans who are not part of Hamas . . . and I would hope with the aid of Arab and other states, internationally”. Israel on Monday marked Memorial Day with a nationwide moment of silence and state ceremonies for fallen soldiers and civilians.