Minister of Defense Benny Gantz (l) with newly appointed IDF chief of staff Herzl Halevi (Ariel Hermoni/Ministry of Defesnse)
“We are at war not just for your homes, the residents of the Gaza border towns, but for all of our homes,” Gantz said.
By World Israel News Staff
Former Defense Minister and current member of the emergency unity government’s war cabinet Benny Gantz said that the ongoing war may take months, during a eulogy for a friend who was killed in the fighting.
Gantz spoke at the funeral of Ofir Libstein, the chair of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council who fell in battle against Hamas terrorists in kibbutz Kfar Aza.
In his remarks, Gantz signaled that Israel was moving away from its previous standards regarding conflicts with Gaza-based terror groups. In earlier rounds of fighting, the IDF has agreed to ceasefires
The Swords of Iron War will only conclude when the IDF has secured a decisive victory, Gantz stressed.
The military campaign “will take a long time. The war in the south — and if need be also in the north or anywhere else — might take months, and the rebuilding will take years,” Gantz said.
“Only when [the rebuilding] is complete will we be victorious,” he added.
Gantz also referenced periodic rocket fire that has plagued the region for years, since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2006.
Following the Swords of Iron War, missiles aimed at southern communities bordering the coastal enclave will no longer be the norm, Gantz said.
“Our goal is not just to defeat Hamas, but to promise that the south will be 100% paradise,” he continued. “After the war, after we win, on any front that we fight, we will be dedicated to this rebuilding.”
He said that Israel was not simply fighting for control of the southwestern region of the country, but locked in a battle for the survival of the state.
“We are at war not just for your homes, the residents of the Gaza border towns, but for all of our homes,” he said.
Addressing residents of the embattled south, Gantz said he was “sorry that we were not able to save you, sorry that we were not able to protect you this time, that we weren’t able to save Ofir and everyone.”
Gantz pledged that “that we will not stop until we achieve the dream of Ofir and his friends.”
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