The Chief of Staff, Major General Hartzi Halevi, today (Wednesday) held a situation assessment on the Philadelphia axis in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, together with the commander of the Southern Command, Colonel Yaron Finkelman, the commander of Division 162, Lieutenant Colonel Itzik Cohen and other commanders.
At the beginning of his remarks, the Chief of Staff said: “Over ten months, the achievements are very high achievements, I say this to the Southern Command, I say this to Division 162, which has been doing with distinction since the beginning of the war, and I say to you the generals, those from the beginning and those who changed and joined along the way. The work is a very high-quality work. I measure the dismantling of Hamas first, because when you excel in the dismantling of Hamas, we can then say to Kerem Shalom, Ein Hasholsha – come back and be safe here. I measure the dismantling of Hamas The same in the amount of terrorists killed, the amount of activists killed, the amount of destroyed infrastructure, you are making very good progress here.”
And he added, “The second thing is to bring these blows and the destruction of the infrastructure in such a way that they will not be able to raise their heads here. Therefore, you will see that it is planned in such a way that we really know how we destroy everything here and do not leave any springboard here to build things forward.”
Halevi referred to the abductees deal ahead of the summit expected tomorrow in Doha and said “The next thing is the return of the abductees, this is a war objective. We are working on it with great determination. I want you to know that what you do here above the ground and below the ground greatly affects it. Hamas should know that every day that he is holding our abductees, will be more bitter than the day before. We will be stricter until we manage to return the abductees, and after that we will not allow Hamas to raise its head either.”
The Chief of Staff concluded his remarks by referring to the issue of the Philadelphia axis and said “The third thing is the Philadelphia axis. Philidelphia is an important thing because it deals with intensification. We are preparing options for whatever the political echelon decides. If the politicians decide we’re staying in Philadelphia, we’ll know how to stay there and stay strong. If they will decide that we monitor and raid whenever we have an indication, we will know how to do it. We will know how to work well. I see our operational freedom in Gaza. Look, we brought in the 98th Division a week ago, a little more than that. You see it – there is no place today in Gaza that you don’t know how to get to. There is no such thing. There is no such thing. We know how to get anywhere in a short time, and this achievement must be preserved, this power must be preserved.”
In the meantime, the Prime Minister held a discussion today in which it was decided on the composition of the negotiating team that will go tomorrow to Doha, the capital of Qatar, in order to advance the deal for the abductees. The team will include the head of the Mossad, Dadi Barnea, the head of the Shin Bet, Ronan Bar, and the person in charge of the abductees, Major General Nitzan Alon. In addition, the political adviser to the Prime Minister, Ofir Fleck, will also accompany the team, and according to a Reuters report, the head of the -CIA William Burns is also expected to attend the summit.
