Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a stark warning to Hamas on Tuesday against attempting to kidnap a soldier or a civilian, during an address at a memorial ceremony for the fallen of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
“In light of various intentions and intelligence reports, I hereby warn the terrorist organization [Hamas] and its supporters, from Iran to [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan,” Katz said at the National Memorial Hall for Fallen Soldiers at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem.
“If even one Israeli soldier or civilian is abducted, the city of Gaza—with its homes and terrorist towers—will be evacuated southward of its one million residents,” he continued, “and it will be dealt with in the same manner in which Rafah and Beit Hanoun and 70% of the Gaza Strip were dealt with, until he is returned.”
He further stated, “This is the language that the jihadist terrorist organizations in Gaza and Lebanon understand, and this is the language we speak: evacuating the population, destroying the infrastructure, and taking the territory.”
The Israel Defense Forces currently hold roughly 54% of the Gaza Strip, deployed along the so-called Yellow Line that runs through the territory from north to south.
The IDF is deployed today in Lebanon, in Syria and in Gaza in “powerful” security zones beyond the borders as a lesson of the Hamas-led cross-border invasion into the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, which left roughly 1,200 people dead and 251 more abductees, Katz continued in his speech.
“We will not allow jihadist elements to be present near our borders and communities,” he said.
These security zones are empty of residents and the IDF operates within these areas, constructs military posts, and dismantles terrorist infrastructure, above and underneath the ground, the defense minister added.
He pledged not to withdraw from the Yellow Line in Gaza as long as Hamas remains in Gaza and the Strip does not become a demilitarized zone. (Read More)
