Defense Minister Yoav Gallant participated in a special meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today at the minister’s office in the Kiryah in Tel Aviv. He provided Knesset Members with a survey of IDF progress in eliminating Hamas terrorists and destroying organizational infrastructures, focused as of now on Gaza City.
The Defense Minister listed the goals of the war and the concentration of efforts in the various sectors. Gallant stressed to committee members that “We expect to have many days of combat.”
“The IDF will have complete freedom of action without limitations on use of force”
Gallant then listed the aims of the war:
“First: The Hamas organization will cease to exist as a military and governmental framework in Gaza. Second: There will be no security threat from Gaza against Israeli citizens. Third: The IDF will have complete freedom of action without limitations on the use of force.”
The minister opened the meeting by saying that “we are in the midst of war. The first message I want to say here since this committee represents the whole People of Israel is that we need your backing, the unity and partnership of all parts of society in Israel. On October 7, citizens and defense personnel were murdered – Jews, Druze, and Bedouin and they are all fighting even today within the Gaza Strip. This is an important message – we are fighting for the whole Israeli People and doing everything we can.”
Gallant then complimented the defense forces: “The IDF is doing its job in a manner worthy of praise. The soldiers are charging with determination and the commanders are marching at the head of the force. The cooperation between the Air Force, the Navy, and ground forces is tight, all with the aid of very precise intelligence from the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad.”
“The goal: winning the war and bringing the hostages home”
“This whole process leads to a machine that is working and advancing. We are seeing results in the field. The defense system I head is focused on two main things: winning the war and bringing the hostages home.”
The minister finally addressed the continuation of the fighting and its goals. “We have many days of fighting before us, this is a different war than what we knew. This will take time – those who killed or kidnapped over 1,500 Israeli citizens, children, women, with all the horrific acts that were, cannot continue to exist.”
“We will hit them in the tunnels and in the bunkers. We will eliminate the Hamas leaders from Sinwar on down. We will hit and hurt the battalion commanders and everyone operating in the field. We will hit the infrastructure and bring about a situation Hamas does not recover from.”
“Yahya Sinwar made a mistake in Gaza and sealed the fate of Hamas and the fate of Gaza. If Nasrallah makes a mistake, he will seal the fate of Lebanon.”