State Camp party chairman, Minister Benny Gantz, gave a statement this evening (Thursday) addressing the security situation: “Our mission as the political leadership is to allow the soldiers to continue and finish the mission – in the south and also in the north, to return the hostages and allow the residents to live in safety.”
“To that end, we need to maintain legitimacy and freedom of action, and plan the continuation of the fighting. As opposed to the past, we will not end in ‘quiet will be met with quiet.’ In this war, there is no ‘day after,’ there is a long, difficult, and necessary process, at varying intensities. Days, and months, and years.”
“Hamas is part of the Iranian axis which seeks to destroy us and block normalization. We need to cause the opposite situation to happen: to remove the threat of Hamas, strengthen the connection with the moderate Arab states, and build another regional reality which will also include a framework for a solution in Gaza,” he said.
“In the military aspect – at the end of the coming stage, when the mission is completed in the southern Strip – we will establish complete security control of the area, including control of territory which will enable the continued operational effort. Israel will control security-wise, maintain freedom of action, and realize it throughout the territory.”
Gantz later addressed the rifts within the nation in the past few days: “The most important thing at this time is winning the war and maintaining Israeli security. To that end, unity within the nation is important. Unfortunately, even in these times, there are those occupied with creating imagined disputes within the nation and harming our important relationship with the United States.”
“We will not act this way in time of war. My colleagues and I will continue to act with national responsibility, back up the soldiers and the commanders, see to it that the correct and difficult decisions are made,” he said.
Gantz was asked whether the Americans were dictating and end date for the war to Israel. In response, he said, “The Americans are not trying to dictate anything to us. In the cabinet, we only make decisions based on the interests of the State of Israel.”
