Israel is in the process of mobilizing its army for a ground incursion into the Gaza region, with a military officer stating that Hamas “will not continue to exist” after the operation.
Hamas “will not continue to exist after we enter the Gaza Strip, and we will make sure that this threat no longer comes from the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“The IDF does not wish to harm you or your families. So, in order to keep you safe, you must leave your places of residence immediately. Residents of the A-Darraj neighborhood area close to the Aziz Mosque, you must evacuate to places of refuge or the center of Gaza City,” he said.
“These instructions are intended to preserve your lives and distinguish between the terrorist organizations to civilians. The IDF will do as much as it can to reduce harm to civilians, but in order to help you, you must obey our warnings.”
The IDF took control over the sites of the Hamas invasion on Tuesday morning, around 72 hours after the terrorists broke in and killed over 1,200 Israelis, including 155 soldiers.
According to Lt. Col. Buskila, the IDF fought and “quickly turned the tables” on Hamas post the attack, eventually stabilizing the borderline.
Though the borderline is currently “firmly held,” there are “all kinds of raid attempts” that the military is fending off. “There are also several squads in the area that try to harm civilians.”
The IDF has called up 360,000 reserve military personnel and is setting up a base along Gaza to accommodate the troops. “We are building infrastructure for future operations,” Richard Hecht, a spokesman for the Israeli military, told reporters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
Necessity of Ground Invasion
In an Oct. 7 interview with The Epoch Times, Lt. Col. (Res.) Amir Avivi explained why an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza has become a necessity.“We have to maneuver into Gaza and defeat Hamas,” he said.
“We see that even though before—for two-and-a-half years, for weeks—we attacked and seemingly severely damaged the capabilities, in the end, the speed with which they recover is great and also there is no deterrence. In the end, only one thing can deter [them] from taking action like they did and that is the fear of their occupation and destruction.”
The fact that Hamas carried out the recent massacre of Israeli citizens means their “basic premise” is that Israel will not militarily enter Gaza, he said. “If they thought that Israel would occupy Gaza, they would not have done it.”
“There is no choice, the IDF must be mobilized, like a war, to occupy Gaza, impose a military government, and cleanse this place of the presence of terrorists and infrastructure.”
Lt. Col. Avivi pointed out that an enemy cannot be defeated without ground maneuver, especially one that hides underground. Without a ground maneuver in Gaza, “it’s only a matter of time until we get an attack from the north,” he warned. The recent Hamas attack targeted southern Israel.
“If you want to subdue Hamas, you have to go in and defeat Hamas. Is it in the whole strip? Is it in the north of the strip? We will leave the plans to the IDF.”
The two sides have decided on a joint war cabinet composed of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Mr. Gantz, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Meanwhile, Iranian-backed terror group Kataib Hezbollah, based in Iraq, threatened the United States that it would attack American bases if Washington intervened in the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Our missiles, drones, and special forces are ready to direct qualitative strikes at the American enemy in its bases and disrupt its interests if it intervenes in this battle,” the head of the group said in a statement.
