IDF head says troops can keep eye on Gaza-Egypt border even if redeployed
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Visiting troops securing the Gaza-Egypt border area, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military can continue to operate against Hamas even if it is required to leave the so-called Philadelphi Route under a hostage deal with the terror group.
Halevi indicates that even if redeployed, soldiers will continue to have eyes on the border area, seen as a key smuggling route, and troops will carry out pin-point incursions when needed.
The decision on moving troops, he adds, is up to the political leadership.
“If it decides that we’re staying in Philadelphi, we’ll know how to stay there and stay strong. If it decides that we must monitor [the area] and carry out raids whenever we have an indication, we will know how to do it,” he adds.
Halevi says that holding the Philadelphi Route, which Israel says Hamas uses to smuggle arms from Egypt into Gaza, is “an important thing, because it deals with [Hamas’s] force build-up.”
“Hamas should know that every day it holds our hostages, it will be more bitter for it than the previous day. We will act [against Hamas] even harder until we manage to return the hostages, and after that we will not allow Hamas to even raise its head,” he says.
