With the ground attack in the Gaza Strip seem to be a matter of hours, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi announced Thursday that the Israeli military will hit Gaza incessantly, and with all its might, in his first live press conference since the Hamas invasion last Saturday.

Halevi said that “we will hit hard and we will dismember the leaders of Gaza.”

“Whoever is left in charge will understand very well that you don’t do such things in the state of Israel,” the IDF chief said.

And referring to the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Shinwar, he said that “this heinous attack was decided by Yahya Shinwar, the “ruler” in Gaza, something which renders him and all his organs under him dead.’

Halevi made it clear that the operation in Gaza “will take time and require calmness, but it is good that our cohesion and brotherhood have been strengthened.”

Herzi Halevi (K)

“We’ll give an eternal blow”

“We will deal an eternal blow to our enemies, that is our mission and we are determined to achieve it,” he said.

Commenting on the challenge the Israeli military faces in public opinion after the Hamas invasion, the IDF chief admitted that: “we have a (social) contract to protect Israelis, which has had its ups and downs, and this time we are at a low point and we paid a heavy price.”

The Israeli military announced earlier that it had dropped so far about 6,000 bombs weighing 4,000 tons in the besieged Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack on Saturday.

Bloodshed continues in the Middle East on the sixth day of the war, with the dead already exceeding 2,700 on both warring sides, while the wounded are over 9,000.

Announcing the emergency government on Wednesday night, with the head of the centrist opposition National Unity party Benny Gantz at his side, Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out that “we are putting aside all our differences to fight an enemy worse than the Islamic State.”

IDF

Alert in Syria

An alert was sounded in Syria on Thursday afternoon, with airports in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo closed as a result of an Israeli strike confirmed by the IDF.

The landing and take-off runways according to information, were damaged by the attacks.

Local media outlet Sham FM said Syrian air defenses were activated in response to both attacks. He added that there was damage but no casualties at Aleppo airport, but gave no information on the impact of the attack on Damascus airport.

we put every other thought aside… The fate of our country hangs by a thread,” said Benjamin Netanyahu in his emergency speech after the decision to form an emergency government.

IDF