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Photo: Amir Cohen
Mofaz. No frustration
Photo: Amir Cohen
Photo: Amir Cohen
Halutz. Accumulated effect
Photo: Amir Cohen
Photo: Amir Cohen
Captain Barel. No response to Qassams
Photo: Amir Cohen

Mofaz: Frustration is not a work plan

IDF soldiers tell defense minister about their feeling of helplessness in dealing with Qassam rockets; in face of terror, we need patience and nerves of steel, Mofaz tells troops

An IDF officer who heads a brigade positioned on Gaza’s northern border told Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Monday about his soldiers’ feeling of helplessness in the face of the ongoing battle against Qassams fired at Israel.

 

“There is a feeling of helplessness over the last period. We know how to deal with shooting and infiltration attacks, but when we see Qassams being fired there is no response and this is frustrating,” Captain Kobi Barel said.

 

Mofaz visited troops positioned along Gaza’s northern border accompanied by IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz. He listened to Barel and answered him in a speech delivered to soldiers.

 

“Frustration is not a work plan. In the face of terror, which we are fighting every day, we need patience, nerves of steel and improvement of all work channels. About 7-8 months ago the situation was more difficult and more dangerous. Now we are in a different situation, terror still prevails and we will know how to deal with it,” Mofaz said.

 

Before the speech, Mofaz and Halutz were briefed on the ongoing IDF operation in Gaza from Southern Command Chief Major-General Yoav Galant and Gaza Division Commander Brigadier-General Aviv Kochavi.

Galant said terror groups choose Qassam fire because of the IDF’s good work.

 

“We will continue to work using all means available – fast, precise and intense artillery fire,” he said.

 

Halutz: Qassam cells in crisis

 

Mofaz told soldiers that the Hamas government is taking no action against terror groups, leaving Israel no choice but to use all available means.

 

“We have to act using deterrence, assassinations, prevention, and disruption of all terror channels, and we will intensify our operations. We need to continue the fight against Hamas in a decisive manner," he said.

 

“So long as there is no peace on the Israeli side, there will be no peace on the Palestinian side. We will intensify and boost the level of operations against all terror organizations and channels,” he added.

 

Mofaz said he was satisfied with the international community’s support for Israel in its legitimate fight against the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.


Major-General Yoav Galant and Brigadier-General Aviv Kochavi (Photo: Amir Cohen)

 

Halutz referred to Monday's incident, in which a 9-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by IDF artillery fire in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya.

 

“The terrorists choose the fighting sites, they choose from where to act and we don’t dictate to them,” he said.

 

He added that the IDF received intelligence information showing that Qassam cells are in crisis as it is more difficult for them to fire rockets with the IDF operation going on.

 

“There is an accumulated effect in our operation. We have no intention of dealing with the issues through the Palestinian population, but we intend on dealing with Qassam firing cells," he said.

 

"Qassam cells get to edges of the populated areas, sometimes they even enter these areas, and we will chase them wherever they are. The population knows that if it spews the Qassam cells it will live in peace, and will have to do nothing to escape an Israeli response,” he added.

 

Mofaz also referred the IDF’s differentiation between the Palestinian leadership and terror groups on the one hand and the Palestinian population on the other hand.

 

"We are unequivocally differentiating between the PA and the Hamas government, which are the same in my eyes, and the Palestinian population. The contacts on the issues of goods, crossings, commerce and economy, which directly concern the Palestinian population, will continue," he said.

 


פרסום ראשון: 04.11.06, 11:55
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