Halevi says IDF still operating in north Gaza, seeing ‘terror activity nearly every day’ there

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says troops are still operating in north Gaza and are seeing Hamas activity in that part of the enclave.

Responding to a question by The Times of Israel at his press conference on when Palestinian civilians could return to northern Gaza, after they were evacuated at the beginning of the ground offensive, Halevi says the IDF is still operating there against Hamas.

“It is true that at the beginning of the war, there were about 15,000 Hamas terrorists there. Today it is much less, the vast majority were killed, injured, and their infrastructure destroyed,” Halevi says.

But he warns that there is still Hamas activity in northern Gaza. “We see nearly every day, terror activity that occurs in the northern part of the Strip,” he says.

“From time to time rockets are launched from there, and from time to time, our forces are attacked. We don’t want to create a situation in which the residents of the Gaza Strip mix with the enemy, thus creating danger to their lives. That is why we are still isolating the north of the Strip to prevent danger to the citizens of Gaza,” he says.

“They will return to it when it is safe to return there, when acts of terror are not carried out there,” Halevi says, adding that “we are not just waiting for it to stop, we are the ones working to stop these terror acts. We are attacking the enemy there. We will continue to do it.”