Israeli Defense Forces, Navy Soldiers: “Continue to prepare for attack”
Israeli authorities announced that they would not hold off on pursuing ground warfare despite the release of additional hostages by Hamas.
According to the Times of Israel and Al Jazeera, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant inspected the naval posture in the coastal area near Gaza on the 23rd (local time) and said, “We must continue to prepare for attacks. “Because (the time to attack) will come,” he said.
Previously, Hamas, a Palestinian armed political faction, released two American hostages on the 20th and then released two additional Israeli hostages on the 23rd, three days later. All of the additional Israeli hostages released were elderly women, and it appears that health reasons were taken into consideration.
Minister Gallant, however, said, “We are thoroughly preparing (for ground warfare),” and added, “It will be a fatal attack.” “It is a joint attack from the land, sea, and air,” he emphasized. He then told the sailors, “Do your job, be prepared. “We will deploy you.”
In addition, Energy Minister Israel Katz emphasized in an interview with German media outlet Bild that, regardless of efforts to rescue hostages, “if we make a decision, our actions, including ground warfare, cannot be hindered.”
“Hamas wants us to respond to the hostage crisis without deploying troops to take out their infrastructure,” Katz said. “That’s not going to happen.”
Hamas is known to be holding more than 200 multinational hostages following the so-called ‘Al-Aqsa flood’ raid on the 7th. Hamas later threatened to execute hostages whenever Israel carried out airstrikes against civilian infrastructure as Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes against its base, the Gaza Strip.
Israel is not only conducting airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, Hamas’ stronghold, but also has gathered large-scale ground forces nearby. In addition, local conflicts against Hezbollah are continuing in the West Bank, northern Lebanon border, and Syria.
Western countries are concerned that if Israel actually deploys large-scale ground troops to the Gaza Strip, nearby armed forces and Middle Eastern countries may intervene in the situation, and the war could actually spread throughout the Middle East.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.