The IDF is prepared to act against Hamas when the time is right, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned, during a visit to the IDF’s Gaza Division on Tuesday, the day after a Hamas rocket attack.
“We will act at the time, place and in conditions that suit us, and not anyone else,” Bennett said. “As far as we’re concerned, Hamas is to blame, not rebels or anyone else but Hamas. “Our mission is to bring long-term security to the residents of the South and the Gaza envelope,” the prime minister stated.
Bennett added that he saw on his visit that the Gaza Division and Southern Command are “appropriately prepared.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz added that “Israel is determined to defend itself and will know how to do it.” Israel’s only interests“ are quiet, security and the return of our boys, home,” a reference to civilian captives Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, as well as the bodies of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, whom Hamas has held since 2014.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi, National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata, OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Eliezer Toledano and Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Maj.-Gen. Ghassan Alyan were at the meeting, as well.
Bennett and Gantz also met with soldiers operating Iron Dome batteries and thanked them for their important contributions to Israel’s security.
Gantz said Israel will facilitate humanitarian aid funded by Qatar and others to the people of Gaza as long as it will “reach the right places.”
“We are not the enemies of the Gazan people,” Gantz stated. “The real enemy is Hamas, which is taking Gaza residents hostage.”
A source in Hamas claimed that Qatari aid money to over 100,000 families in Gaza would be delivered in the coming days, channeled through the UN.
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