During the visit, the unit's capabilities to move forces in different conditions were displayed. The commander of the IDF's Infantry Corps, General Eran Uliel, and the commander of the 99th Regiment, General Barak Hiram, were present as well.
"We have two goals in this war, the first one being to disassemble Hamas nothing more and nothing less. We will destroy their entire chain of command, all their bunkers, all their compounds, all their underground complexes, attack their leadership, and kill as many terrorists as possible,” Gallant told the soldiers.
He emphasized, “The second one is to carry out any operation that might rescue our hostages. When I say rescue, that could mean a ground operation or something else, only fighting from the air, and obviously on the ground, along with the pressure these create, will move the issue of the hostages forward.”
“This is why I pushed all the way for a ground offensive - first of all because it achieves the goals of the war. The second thing is that Hamas understands only strength, and if you don't move with strength, they don't understand you. When you start acting with strength, you suddenly have something to give them - a little more quiet. They are willing to pay for it. This is the whole point of this thing - we can achieve two goals at once.”
"When I look at our forces in action, I see them working at an extremely high level. I presume that we will, at the end of the road, reach both of these targets, but it will not be over quickly. What we have done in parts of Gaza City will need to be copied several times over in other parts of the Gaza Strip eventually. We cannot live with this threat next to us. There will be no more threat from the Gaza Strip. There will be no threat to the state of Israel, Hamas will cease to function as a governing military body with any capabilities, and we will have the full capacity to operate when we want if a threat appears,” Minister Gallant concluded.
