IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi warned Israel is in a multi-front war and that incidents on one front can impact others, with the military fighting in Gaza, the West Bank and along the northern borders.
Speaking Friday to Border Police officers in the West Bank, Halevi noted security forces were on heightened alert due to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with Hamas trying to stoke unrest in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
“We are more alert this month. Really be very vigilant, very careful, with very good security,” Halevi said in a video released Saturday by the IDF. “We are in a multi-front war, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria [West Bank], and Gaza, and more distant things.”
“Everyone, every soldier… has responsibility for all the arenas, because every incident that happens in one of the arenas really affects and can cause [developments] in other areas as well,” he added.
War erupted when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern communities on October 7, slaughtering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 253 captives to Gaza, where over half remain. The devastating onslaught and the resulting Israeli offensive — aimed at eliminating Hamas and returning the hostages — have sparked fears of a regional conflagration.
The IDF said Saturday that the Nahal Infantry Brigade killed more than 250 Hamas operatives in the central Gaza Strip over the past two weeks, in gun battles and by calling in strikes by tanks and aircraft.
The Nahal Brigade is operating in the so-called Netzarim Corridor, which crosses Gaza from the Kibbutz Be’eri area to the coast. The corridor has enabled the IDF to carry out raids in northern and central Gaza.
Nahal troops with the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion have destroyed numerous Hamas assets in the area in recent weeks, including rockets, launchers, and weapons depots, the IDF said.
The IDF also said some 15 terror operatives holed up in a Hamas site in central Gaza’s Nuseirat were killed in an airstrike Friday.
The airstrike was directed by the 215th Artillery Regiment, following intelligence information about the operatives. The IDF said the regiment directed a separate airstrike, killing a Hamas sniper squad commander and another operative.
Meanwhile, in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the IDF said fighter jets struck and destroyed a Hamas weapons depot spotted by the 7th Armored Brigade.
Also in Khan Younis, the Givati Brigade directed strikes on two Hamas operatives spotted entering and exiting a site known to be used by the terror group, the IDF said.
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