IDF chief: We will not halt war in Gaza until ‘we return all the hostages’

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military will immediately return to striking in the Gaza Strip once the ceasefire with Hamas ends.

Halevi, speaking to soldiers, says the ceasefire and hostage deal would not have happened without the IDF’s pressure on Hamas.

“We do not intend, do not want, and are not ready to stop this effort before we return all the hostages… it is our moral duty to bring them back,” he says.

Halevi says the IDF will use the pause in fighting to “study, to better prepare our abilities and also to rest a little.”

“And we will return immediately at the end of the ceasefire to attacking Gaza, to maneuver in Gaza. We will do it to dismantle Hamas and also to create great pressure to return as quickly as possible and as many hostages as possible, down to the last one of them,” he says.

“We have an obligation to fight and also to risk our lives so that [Israeli citizens] can return to live in safety, and we have hostages that we will do everything to bring them home,” Halevi adds.