Today (Tuesday), the Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, met reserve commanders from Battalion 8208, who lost 21 of their soldiers last week, along with the Commanding Officer of the Gaza Division, BG Avi Rosenfeld, and the Commanding Officer of the Southern Gaza Brigade, COL Tal Ashur.
Video of the Chief of the General Staff with the commanders: https://bit.ly/3HFbpk8
Related video: https://bit.ly/3ucLj4O
Related photos: https://IDFANC.activetrail.biz/ANC87568
Full remarks of the Chief of the General Staff: “This morning soldiers of the Yamam Unit entered into a hospital in Jenin, inside which a terrorist cell was planning to carry out a serious attack and to kill Israeli civilians. We do not want to turn hospitals into battlefields, with patients on the right and doctors and nurses on the left, and terrorists in the middle, but we are even more determined not to allow hospitals in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, above ground or in tunnel shafts and tunnels under hospitals, to become a place that is a cover for terrorism, and one that allows terrorists to stash weapons, to rest, to go out to carry out an attack. And where necessary, we enter even the most complex places to eliminate terrorism, to harm terrorism, to strike terrorists. And where there is fighting, to eliminate them. We are fighting against serious terrorism, it brought us into Gaza with great force, we will continue to operate in Gaza, we will continue to reach wherever Hamas is, we will continue to attack, we will continue to kill terrorists, we will continue to destroy infrastructure. I am impressed by how well you carry out these tasks, you combine very well with all the infantry and armor capabilities, the connection to combat engineering, which was also connected to the difficult event last week. These combinations, professionally and strengthening your spirit and preventing cracks, this is what will give us the ability to go to a long, complex war, and at the end of the road to win a victory that is very important and will also be very clear. There is a lot of appreciation for the battalion’s actions, a lot of appreciation for dealing with the situation.”