Gallant tells IDF pilots that pursuit of Hamas operatives ‘will continue for years’

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets with the IDF fighter pilots involved in yesterday’s strike on senior Hamas officials Muhammed Deif and Rafa’a Salameh in Khan Younis.

“Your actions are precise, of high quality and the results are what allow us to continue to do things,” Gallant tells those gathered at the Nevatim air base. “They also allow us freedom of action in order to achieve our goals.”

Those goals include the returning of the hostages, he says, “and your actions, including those yesterday, give us the freedom of flexibility in order to achieve this.” Today, he says, Hamas does not have the capability to rearm itself, to organize itself or to treat its wounded.

Gallant adds that Hamas’s capabilities are being eroded every day, but “the pursuit of Hamas terrorists will continue for many years — from the most senior, as you acted against yesterday, to those terrorists in the field,” including all those who took part in the October 7 massacre.