Gantz says returning hostages is moral and national duty; IDF releases recording of Gazan saying Hamas blocking escape to south of Strip; EU leaders call for pause in bombings to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza
A massive barrage of rockets were fired from Gaza toward Tel Aviv and several central Israel cities, just minutes after the limited war cabinet, which includes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and National Unity party head Benny Gantz, begins meeting in the Kirya defense headquarters in Tel Aviv.
An hour earlier, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a nationally televised statement said that the security establishment is preparing for the next steps in the war against Hamas.
"We will carry the (next steps) out," he said. "This is a war for our home, it's either us or them, and we will win. Twenty-four hours after the start of the war, we switched to an aerial attack with unusual intensity. It is our duty to win this war. This is the unwritten contract between the state and the citizens," he said. Gallant added that "we have 1,400 civilians and soldiers killed in battle and also 224 kidnapped. I am determined to make every effort to return the kidnapped to their families."
The head of the National Emergency Authority (NAEA), Brig. Gen. Yoram Laredo, said in a briefing Thursday afternoon that since the beginning of the war approximately 125,000 residents of the north and south have been evacuated to state-funded hotels and guest rooms, and emphasized that the authority recommends that the evacuees stay there until the end of the year. "We will work to promote a government decision and the required resources," noted Laredo.
The military released a recording of a resident of Gaza telling an IDF officer that Hamas was preventing civilians from traveling to the south of the Strip to avoid being hurt in Israeli attacks. The military said dozens of calls urging Gazans to move south, were being made.
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