Tel Aviv, Israel

After almost a year of war, Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday said that Hamas's military capabilities have been severely damaged and that the group no longer exists as a military formation in Gaza. 

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“Hamas as a military formation no longer exists. Hamas is engaged in guerrilla warfare and we are still fighting Hamas terrorists and pursuing Hamas leadership,” Gallant told foreign journalists.

The Israeli defence minister also offered support for a hostage release agreement in the first phase of a Gaza truce deal, adding that it would give Israel a "strategic opportunity" to address other security challenges. 

He stressed that bringing the hostages home is "the right thing to do". 

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Earlier also, Gallant has repeatedly clashed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hardline religious nationalist ministers, pushing them to reach a deal to pause the war and bring the hostages back in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. 

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The Israeli PM has been pushed repeatedly to agree to a hostage-for-peace deal with Hamas, which has now been negotiated for months. 

Half of Hamas' military wing leadership killed 

In July, the Israeli ministry said that they had killed over half of the leadership of Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. They added that they have killed or apprehended over 14,000 Hamas fighters out of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 fighters. 

However, Hamas has not agreed on these figures. 

Also read: Israel-Hamas war: Chances of hostage-truce deal 'close to zero', US not to present bridging proposal - Report

During the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, the group took about 250 hostages and killed about 1200 people. 

'Unrealistic' to think UN could play role in Gaza's future 

Earlier today, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the need for a ceasefire and said that the UN had offered to monitor any truce, but that it was "unrealistic" to think that the UN could play a role in Gaza's future, as Israel is unlikely to accept a UN role. 

"The level of suffering we are witnessing in Gaza is unprecedented in my mandate as secretary-general of the United Nations. I’ve never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza in the last few months," he said.

Guterres added, "Of course, we’ll be ready to do whatever the international community asked for us…The question is whether the parties would accept it, and in particular whether Israel would accept it."

(With inputs from agencies)