After two weeks of air strikes in retaliation to the Hamas terror attack on 7 October, Israel’s ground offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip will start soon. Talking to troops waiting near the Gaza border, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that the orders to enter the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave will come “soon.”
“You now see Gaza from afar, soon you will see it from the inside,” Gallant told troops of the Givati Brigade, as per a report by Times of Israel. “The order will come,” he added. “We will be precise and deadly and we will continue until we complete the mission,” he further said.
Gallant also took responsibility for the failure to prevent the Hamas terror attack on Southern Israel two weeks ago. “I am responsible for the defence establishment. I was responsible for it in the last two weeks, even in the difficult incidents, and I am responsible for bringing it to victory in the battle,” Gallant said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also paid a visit to the frontlines, rallying a group of Golani soldiers near the Gaza border and telling them Israel was on its way to a major victory. “We are going to win with all our might. All of Israel is behind you, and we are going to strike our enemies so that we can achieve victory,” the PM said addressing the soldiers.
Talking about the anticipated ground invasion, senior officials of the Israeli government have said that it will be a large-scale operation, with the objective of wiping out Hamas from Gaza. Visiting the border area where there is a large Israeli military build-up including thousands of tanks and armoured vehicles, officials told the soldiers that the fight would be “difficult, long and intense.” They assured that Israel would ultimately win the war.
The head of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, said the expected ground offensive would be “long and intense.” Talking to the troops at the border, he said, “This war was forced on us, with a cruel enemy that harmed us greatly. But we stopped them… we are striking them heavily.”
Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman said, “Now, the manoeuvre is going to move the fighting to their territory. We are going to beat them in their territory,” adding that “It’s going to be difficult, long and intense.”
Israel has been preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza, especially Gaza City, for a week, and has been warning the civilians in the northern part of the Strip to move to the south. On 13 October the Israel Defence Force asked the 1.1 million people living in Gaza City to move to the south of Wadi Gaza. While many civilians have evacuated, Hamas is continuously preventing the Palestinians from evacuating. Israel alleges that Hamas is not allowing the civilians to leave as they want to use them as shields.
