A year after the IDF launched Operation Cast Lead in
Gaza, Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said the relative calm in Israel's southern region could be violated at any moment.
Speaking Monday at a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony at an army base located near the Hamas-ruled territory, Ashkenazi
said, "I am under no illusions; the situation can change."
The army invaded Gaza following eight years of incessant Qassam rocket attacks
on the south.
Ashkenazi (center) and Peres during ceremony (Photo: AP)
IDF Southern Command chief Major-General Yoav Galant told the soldiers, "This year is the quietest we've experienced in the past decade, but we must be prepared for what's to come."
President Shimon Peres, who also took part in the ceremony, addressed the exclusion
of the Har Bracha yeshiva from the list of hesder yeshivas, saying, "The army should be managed undeniably without political intervention".
"There cannot be two commanders to an operation, and there definitely cannot be an army commander and a civilian commander," he said.
Turning his attention to the governments efforts to secure kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit's release, the president said, "If it were only up to us, then Shalit would be released soon, but it is not only up to us, and there are disagreements between Hamas' leaders (in Gaza and its leaders in exile).
"Hamas
at home (Gaza) wants its prisoners released, while Hamas abroad (in exile) is acting out of political considerations. The state will do everything in its power to bring Gilad Shalit home," he said.
Shalit was kidnapped
into Gaza by Palestinian terrorists on June 25, 2006.
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