Gantz: Hamas leaders are hiding, we will hit them when we want
Gantz: Hamas leaders are hiding, we will hit them when we want
by Lilach Shoval and Yoav Limor August 7, 2014
(Gantz stated, “Hamas leaders are hiding in their bunkers. We will hit them when we want to, wherever we want to.” – LS)
“Every single one of Hamas’ infrastructures has been dealt a severe blow,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz says • “We spared no effort to warn civilians, but we never lost sight of our primary mission — to protect Israel and its citizens.”
The Israel Defense Forces “has dealt Hamas a severe blow and we will not hesitate to continue our operations to ensure the Israeli public’s safety,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz told reporters Wednesday, in a press briefing held in the GOC Southern Command’s Gaza Sector, where he reviewed Operation Protective Edge.
“We are at the end of a long military operation, which began with an extensive aerial campaign and evolved into a significant ground campaign inside the Gaza Strip. This has resulted in severe damage to Hamas and the destruction of its strategic assets, including its infrastructure, its command and control posts, its ability to fire [rockets] and especially its tunnels’ infrastructure,” Gantz said.
“Every single one of Hamas’ infrastructures has been dealt a severe blow. Hamas commanders, who are hiding in bunkers underneath what they consider sensitive sites, will come out — if they come out — and see the devastation they have, unfortunately, brought on the Gaza Strip.
“The IDF has spared no effort to warn [Palestinian] civilians and to pinpoint its actions, but we never lost sight our primary mission — to protect Israel and its citizens.
“Hamas is to blame for the tragic devastation in Gaza. Hamas leaders caused it by operating in populated areas. I truly hope that this lesson will be internalized by the Gazans, because we will not hesitate to continue our operations, to exercise our full force, whenever and wherever necessary, to ensure the Israeli public’s safety.”
Gantz noted that “the troops are redeploying to continue defending the sector, and we are ready to forge on. We are not done and we are ready for whatever order comes next.”
“If [security] incidents take place we will know how to respond. If developments take place on the ground — we have the ability, the determination and the necessary force to go wherever we are needed, for as long as it takes,” Gantz said.
Commenting on the working relations between the military and the government, Gantz said, “Overall, we work closely together. The government directs the military and we translate their directives into operational and strategic instructions, which can be executed well on the ground.”
Addressing the concerns raised by the residents of the Gaza area communities, who were told by the military Wednesday that they could return to their homes, Gantz said, “I’m convinced that the residents can return to their homes and live their lives here as they did before [the Gaza campaign]. Peace and quiet has and will be restored to the area. IDF troops are not going anywhere. We will remain fully deployed, ready for any future challenge. Together with the residents, we will continue to develop the area’s security.”
Asked about the fact that Hamas’ leaders were unharmed during the operation, Gantz stated, “Hamas leaders are hiding in their bunkers. We will hit them when we want to, wherever we want to.”
Commendations, inquests underway
“There’s no doubt about it — we won,” Golani Brigade Commander Col. Rasan Alian, who was wounded in heavy clashes with Hamas and defied doctors orders to return to his troops, told Israel Hayom.
“We accomplished our missions and we would have been more than willing to carry on. The soldiers wanted to go further [into Gaza], to apply more pressure, and had we been given the order, nothing would have been able to stop us,” he said.
Alian, who has become one of the officers most synonymous with the Gaza campaign, led the Golani Brigade through several fateful clashes in Shujaiyya — a Hamas stronghold — during which 16 soldiers were killed.
The Golani Brigade, he said, killed over 100 terrorists and destroyed three major terror tunnels leading from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
Meanwhile, the IDF has released 27,000 of the 82,000 reservists called up ahead of and during Operation Protective Edge. Some 55,000 reservists remain on active duty, but a military source said the IDF would release them “as soon as circumstances allow for it.”
In the coming weeks, the military plans to review the issue of special commendations for soldiers who demonstrated heroism on the battlefield. A military official said that the Givati Brigade’s Lt. Eitan — the officer who pursued the terrorists attempting to abduct the remains of Lt. Hadar Goldin, killed in heavy fighting in Rafah on Aug. 1 — is likely to receive a citation.
The military is also expected to investigate several operational incidents, including the attack on the armored personnel carrier in Shujaiyya, where seven soldiers were killed; the attack on an IDF post near Nahal Oz, where five soldiers were killed; and the tunnel attacks near the kibbutzim of Nir Am and Nahal Oz.
The IDF has already launched an inquiry into the implementation of the Hannibal Protocol — the military directives designed to prevent soldiers’ abductions — during the clash in which Goldin was killed.
The General Staff is also set to debate whether the Gaza campaign was an “operation” or a “war,” since the distinction carries with its significant financial ramifications for both the military and the Gaza vicinity communities.
Among the challenges the military faces outside the battlefield is the growing demand by the international community to investigate the alleged “war crimes” committed during Operation Protective Edge.
The IDF has made sure to investigate operational incidents as they took place, and military sources said the IDF is better prepared to counter any such accusations.
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