Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said Wednesday that he expects Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip to continue through at least the end of the year, appearing to dismiss the idea that the war could come to an end after the military offensive against Hamas in the city of Rafah.

“We expect another seven months of combat in order to shore up our achievement and realize what we define as the destruction of Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s military and governing capabilities,” Hanegbi said in a radio interview with Kan, the Israeli public broadcaster.

Israeli officials have told the public to expect a protracted campaign that would progress in phases toward lower-intensity fighting. Hanegbi’s assessment, however, appeared to be at odds with earlier projections by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said in April that the country was “on the brink of victory” in its war against Hamas. In recent weeks, Israeli troops repeatedly have returned to areas of northern Gaza to tamp down a renewed insurgency there by Hamas militants.

Israel faces rising pressure to wind down its campaign and reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would include the release of hostages held in Gaza. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has requested arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and defense minister, the World Court has ordered Israel to rein in its offensive in Rafah, and the Biden administration has expressed frustration with the lack of a clear Israeli endgame for postwar Gaza.

The outcry has sharpened after an Israeli bombardment, in an area where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killed at least 45 people in western Rafah, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.