Yoav Gallant addresses nation (GPO)
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant dismissed calls for a cease fire in Gaza saying that Israel will not stop the fighting until all of the hostages held there are released and Hamas is destroyed. His comments came as part of a public address made to the Israeli public Sunday night.
“This war is a war of national determination,” declared Yoav Gallant. “What will determine our success is the will to win. We will continue until the combat goals are achieved.”
These goals, he said, are eliminating the ability of Hamas to carry out any more acts of terror and the return home of the remaining 136 Israelis held hostage in Gaza.
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“Three months ago, together with the IDF chief of staff, director of the Shin Bet (Israel anti-terror General Security Service), and IDF generals,” said Yoav Gallant, “I presented to the cabinet the war plan in the Gaza Strip and its ties to other arenas. We made it clear that the intensive maneuvering stage would last for approximately three months.”
“If the war ends now, the fate of the hostages will be sealed for many years – in Hamas captivity,” Gallant told reporters during a Monday night press conference,” he added.
“Without military pressure, no one will talk to us, without the military pressure we will not be able to achieve any agreements – only from a position of strength can we ensure the release of hostages,” he said.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that the “intensive phase” of Israel’s ground offensive in northern Gaza has ended, and it will soon be over in the Khan Younis area of the Strip’s south as well.
Troops have been carrying out operations at a lower intensity in northern Gaza, after the military said it had defeated all of Hamas’s battalions in the area. The soldiers have been working to locate the remaining Hamas sites and kill or capture the terror group’s last operatives.
“Three months ago, together with the IDF chief of staff, director of the Shin Bet, and IDF generals, I presented to the cabinet the war plan in the Gaza Strip and its ties to other arenas. We made it clear that the intensive maneuvering stage would last for approximately three months,” Gallant said.
Yoav Gallant, however, claimed a measure of victory for Israel asserting that the IDF has succeeded in destroying Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip saying that there “this phase has ended.”
He also declared that Israel will also soon achieve this in the southern Gaza Strip too.
Yoav Gallant also dismissed reports of political dissent on the conduct of the war within Israel’s government.
“The end of the military campaign must be anchored in policy,” he said. “It is policy that leads military action. Political indecision may harm the progress of the military operation.”
“At the end of the war, there will be no military threat from Gaza, Hamas will not be able to control and function as a military force in the Gaza strip, and the IDF will have full freedom of action to do whatever is required to defend the citizens of Israel. It may take a long time, but it will end with a single scenario – total victory.”
