Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told NBC News that a heavy and bloody ground assault on the Gaza Strip is likely in the coming days.

Barak, who, as defense minister during the largest ground invasion of Gaza in 2009, has rare experience of such an operation, said that if the conflict escalated, it could trigger a larger war that would require “more time, work, sweat, tears and blood”.

However, he argued that even if this were to happen, Israel would not be in jeopardy.

“We don’t need another war. But if we’re going to have one, we’re going to fight in one,” he said in a wide-ranging interview. “And Israel will win.”

• Read also: Why Israel has not yet launched a ground offensive?

Israel’s military says it is awaiting a “political decision” to launch a ground offensive in Gaza, which it has been pounding relentlessly since a bloody Hamas attack a week ago. In two separate press conferences, Israeli military spokesmen Richard Hecht and Daniel Hagari said any entry into Gaza must be preceded by a “political solution.”

The head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that the army will soon enter the Gaza Strip to destroy the terrorist group Hamas and called on soldiers to attack and destroy anything associated with the Palestinian movement, The Times of Israel reported.

“Our responsibility now is to enter Gaza, to get to those places where Hamas prepares, acts, plans, launches. Let’s attack them everywhere, every commander, every operative, destroy the infrastructure,” Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Hertzi Halevi told soldiers in southern Israel. “In short, win,” he added.