Ground op delayed by ‘tactical matters’

(TIMES OF ISRAEL) – Israel Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Hamas “regrets” launching a war against Israel, and said that a ground offensive into Gaza was being delayed by “tactical and even strategic considerations”.

“We’ve prepared for this. The IDF and the Southern Command have prepared quality offensive plans to achieve the goals of the war,” Halevi said at a press conference near the Gaza border.

His comments came as Hamas terrorists continued to fire rockets toward southern and central Israel and the IDF continued to strike a range of Hamas targets in the Strip.

The IDF chief added that the military was “ready for the [ground] manoeuvre, and we will make a decision with the political echelon regarding the shape and timing of the next stage”.

“We are making use of every minute to be even more prepared,” he said. “And every minute that passes on the other side, we strike the enemy even more … This is our state, our home, and we will defend it by every means.”

The IDF chief said nobody should doubt Hamas’s cruelty and barbarism. “We recommend that Hamas treat the Israeli citizens it holds hostage with respect.” This is “essential”, he said, but it bears no relationship to the “gravity of the treatment” the IDF will mete out to Hamas. Nothing, he stressed, could atone in any way for what Hamas did on October 7, and what it has done “since then to every one of the hostages, those killed, and their families”.

“The IDF is fighting Hamas, it is not fighting Gaza’s populace,” Halevi continued. “The IDF wants the residents of Gaza to come through this war as unharmed as possible.” This was the reason Israel was urging residents to evacuate to safe areas, in southern Gaza, where they will find food, water and medicine, he said. “Every resident of Gaza should take the responsible decision [to evacuate] for the sake of their lives.”

A number of Hamas terrorists attempted to infiltrate into Israel from the Gaza Strip via the sea on Tuesday evening and were killed by Israeli Navy forces, the military said. The IDF said a fighter jet also carried out an airstrike against a compound from which the terrorists set out.

Later, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Navy forces were continuing to search for additional possible terrorists in the area.

Hagari said Navy forces – including naval commandos – operating across from the coast of Gaza City spotted the Hamas cell entering the sea from a tunnel. Navy forces opened fire at the divers, killing them, “and are currently in the process of making sure that there aren’t any more members of the cell in the sea”, he said.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the seaborne attack attempt.

The IDF said on Tuesday it had also foiled several plans by Hezbollah terrorists to carry out attacks against Israel from southern Lebanon, as skirmishes continued on the northern border amid fears a new front could be opened.

Firmly backing Israel’s right to go to war against Hamas, US President Joe Biden urged Israelis to learn the lessons from US campaigns after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “Justice must be done,” said Biden, speaking in Tel Aviv after a six-hour visit to Israel, the first by a US President during a war.

“But I caution this: while you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it,” he continued. “After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”

Betraying an unease with the possibility that Israel’s campaign against Hamas could get derailed by civilian losses, Biden warned that wartime leadership “requires clarity about the objectives and an honest assessment about whether the path you’re on will achieve those objectives”.