From the Liveblog of
Sunday, April 7, 2024
IDF chief of staff: War against Hamas is far from over, despite troop withdrawal
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says that, despite the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the war against Hamas continues and is far from over.
He also says that the IDF will know how to return to fighting in the event of a truce as part of a hostage deal and that returning the hostages is a more urgent matter than other goals.
“We are fighting this war differently, it is different from its predecessors,” Halevi says in a press statement marking six months since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
“The war in Gaza continues, and we are far from stopping. Senior Hamas officials are still in hiding. We will get to them sooner or later. We are making progress, continuing to kill more terrorists and commanders and destroy more terror infrastructures, including last night,” he says.
“We will not leave Hamas brigades active in any part of the Strip. We have plans and we will act when we decide. At the same time as the offensive effort, we allow the introduction of humanitarian aid into the Strip. The interest of Hamas is to present a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to press for an end to the war,” Halevi says.
He says “Hamas is trying to take control of the humanitarian aid and prevents its distribution, to return and control the Gaza Strip, This should not happen.”
“Therefore, we continue to dismantle Hamas from its military and governmental capabilities, to bring about… stability to the region,” Halevi continues.
On the operation to recover the body of hostage Elad Katzir, Halevi says “We all would have liked to have him back alive. We didn’t succeed in that.”
“We will continue to act in any way. We will continue our efforts, intelligence and operational, to return all the hostages as quickly as possible,” he says.
“As chief of staff, I personally feel a responsibility to return them, and so do the other commanders of the IDF and its soldiers,” he continues.
Halevi says hostage negotiation talks should be “done responsibly and carefully and its details should be left in the right rooms.”
“The IDF is strong enough for the State of Israel to know how to pay prices for the return of its sons and daughters. We have a moral duty to them and the IDF will know how to withstand even a difficult price and will also know how to come back and fight with strength,” he says.
Halevi says “When we went to war at the beginning, we knew and said that it would last a long time, to achieve the goals. We have made very significant achievements in fighting in Gaza, but the goals have not yet been fully achieved, the return of all hostages home, the return of all residents of the north and south to their homes in safety, and the dismantling of Hamas in the entire Gaza Strip, in a way that will allow for a government that is not Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”
“This reality is extremely complex and there are no simple solutions. We conduct the war with responsibility and determination. We must not be delusional,” he says.
“As we said, some goals will take a long time, and we will not let up until we achieve them. The return of the hostages is important and urgent, and its timer is different from the timer of the other goals,” Halevi says.
