IDF Chief of Staff LTG Herzi Halevi held a situational assessment in the Judea and Samaria Division, together with the Commanding Officer of the Central Command, MG Yehuda Fox, and the Commanding Officer of the Judea and Samaria Division, BG Yaki Dolf, and the commanding officers of the division’s regional brigades.
"The year 2024 will be challenging; we will be at war in Gaza. I don't know if it will be all year long; we will be fighting in Gaza all year, that's for sure, and this will also hold the other arenas, certainly in Judea and Samaria, to a certain state of alertness," Halevi stated.
"The willingness to carry out terror attacks, and it will be very much in our hands how we succeed in preventing this, how we succeed in thwarting this. What is our role? Maximum determination in fighting, in thwarting, in fighting terrorism, in entering a residence, in killing the terrorist, maximum determination and values," the Chief of Staff added.
With regards to the northern front, Halevi stated: "Hezbollah decided to enter into this war, we are exerting an increasing cost from Hezbollah all the time, they paid yesterday with seven killed, they paid yesterday with two very important targets, and we are increasing the price that they are paying. It will end with us having a responsibility, a duty, to return the residents of the north in security, not under duress, safely to their homes. It will come either by the pressure we are now applying, which is rising, and will do the job and we will create a completely different reality, or we will get to another war."
The Chief of Staff concluded: "We will do it, we will do it with excellence; even though we are after a long battle already and challenges in many arenas, we will know how to do it excellently. To achieve the war goals, we have a long way to go, and therefore, this will take time."