IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari held his daily briefing today (Tuesday), the eighteenth day of the war. He addressed the lessening of rocket launches from Gaza towards Israel and the army’s readiness to attack the Strip on land.
“The focus of fire is in the terror arena at the heart of the city of Gaza and the neighborhoods in the north of the Strip: the neighborhoods (of) Zaytun, Shejaiya, Jabalia, and Shati,” Hagari said. “We struck a number of Hamas squads on their way to harm the Israeli rear, and in addition there were significant strikes throughout the whole night.”
“In the north, we eliminated a terrorist squad who tried to fire rockets from the Har Dov area. In recent days, we have taken out many squads even before they managed to fire towards Israel. All in all, we eliminated 5 terrorist squads over the past day,” Hagari said. Hezbollah has meantime published the names of 32 of its people killed in fighting with the IDF.
Hagari also spoke of the decline in Hamas’ rocket capabilities: “We are witnessing a decline in Gaza launches. There is a decline in their capabilities,” he said, while warning: “We must not become complacent. We must heed the instructions of Rear Command because these are life-saving instructions.”
He addressed the release of the captives, saying that while Hamas freed 2 captives – Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz, their spouses are still hostages of Hamas, along with 222 others held by the terrorist organization. No cynical clip of food and drink to the hostages will minimize the cruelty of the murder and the kidnappings they carried out during Simchat Torah.
Hagari was asked regarding the readiness of the army for maneuver on land, due to reports of unreadiness or plans to engage in such actions: “The forces in the south are very large. The regular and reserve forces. They continue to train and deepen their readiness. They continue to organize with the best equipment. We will act and activate the force under the best conditions. We will improve the area with the aid of the Air Force so that there are fewer threats. We are looking at all the considerations, both in Gaza and in the area. And we will operate according to the instruction of the political leadership.”
The goal of the war, according to Hagari, is that “on the day after the war, we need to live when there is no threat across the border like on October 7.”
