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Photo: Haim Tzach
Southern Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant
Photo: Haim Tzach

IDF: Hamas setting up anti-tank unit

Southern Command Chief tells Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Hamas setting up special divisions in Gaza

Israel Defense Forces Southern Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant told members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that Hamas is setting up a new division in its military wing specializing in firing anti-tank and other missiles.

 

"Hamas is setting up a regular division with anti-tank capabilities and with missiles capable of reaching threatening ranges in Israel," Galant said.

 

He said the IDF is doing in the Gaza Strip what the political echelon allows.

 

MK Effie Eitam of the National Union-NRP faction said: "The meeting was a continuation of what the head of Military Intelligence presented to us. In Gaza, Hamas's army is being created with brigades and divisions. Standard weapons are being smuggled through hundreds of tunnels. What the IDF is doing is an important operation … The number of killed terrorists is an important achievement for the IDF, but the IDF is preoccupied at the moment only with continuous security problems and is not answering strategic problems."

 

The IDF was instructed to step up operations against Palestinian gunmen and arms smugglers in the Gaza Strip.

 

"We can't hold on to areas in the Strip for an extended period of time, but we must act all the more forcefully against the terror infrastructures," army officials told Ynet, adding that "an expansion of the operation in Gaza is expected soon."

 

A senior army official explained the objective of the operations: "The Gaza Strip appears relatively quiet, except for a few Qassam attacks each day, but under the surface the motivation of the terror groups to carry out attacks remained very high. This reinforcement, which is demonstrated by the smuggling of large amounts of arms, isn't very evident now, but may become extremely visible in the future, and this needs to be stopped."

 

Palestinian sources said Tuesday that two Hamas gunmen were killed by IDF forces operating the southern Gaza neighborhood of Khan Younis on Tuesday morning.

 


פרסום ראשון: 10.31.06, 13:45
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