The Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, addressed the situation on the Philadelphi Route today (Wednesday). He stated, "We are preparing for every scenario that the political leadership might decide upon. If it is decided that we remain on the Philadelphi Route, we will know how to stay there and remain strong. If the decision is to monitor and conduct raids whenever we have indications, we will be able to do that."
After the tour, Halevi commented: "For over ten months, the achievements have been very high. I say this to Southern Command, and to Division 162, which has excelled since the beginning of the war. The work is of very high quality. I measure the dismantling of Hamas primarily by the number of terrorists killed, the number of active operatives killed, and the amount of infrastructure destroyed. You are progressing very well. The second goal is to ensure that these strikes and the destruction of infrastructure prevent Hamas from regaining strength. We must make sure that we destroy everything thoroughly, without leaving any platform for future rebuilding."
On the issue of returning captives, Halevi stressed: "The next goal is the return of the hostages; this is a war objective. We are working on it with great determination. I want you to know that what you are doing above and below ground has a significant impact. Hamas needs to understand that each day they hold our hostages will be worse for them than the previous day. We will escalate our efforts until we succeed in bringing back the hostages, and afterward, we will not allow Hamas to raise its head."
Finally, Halevi discussed the importance of the Philadelphi Route: "The Philadelphi Route is crucial because it deals with the build-up. We are preparing for every possible decision the political leadership might make. If we stay on the Philadelphi Route, we will be strong and effective. If we need to monitor and raid whenever we have indications, we will do that. Our operational freedom in Gaza is evident. For example, we recently deployed Division 98. You see it—there is no place in Gaza today where our intelligence or operational units cannot reach. We know how to get to any location quickly, and this achievement must be maintained and preserved."
