The IDF’s General Staff representative in the Cabinet, General Eliezer Toledano, presented the government with a briefing on the war during the Cabinet meeting today.
_x000D_“This war will continue for several long months. We will need to manage an economy of ammunition, but the goal is the eventual destruction of Hamas,” he stated
_x000D_“We are not sparing ammunition over the course of the ground offensive, and are doing everything needed to protect our soldiers.”
_x000D_Prime Minister Netanyahu used the meeting to make a similar statement directed to the Biden administration: “Last night, I spoke again with President Biden. I appreciate the steadfast US position – which supports our war effort – in the UN Security Council. I told President Biden yesterday that we will fight until absolute victory – however long that takes. The US understands this,” he said.
_x000D_He dismissed reports that the Biden Administration has been handicapping Israel’s efforts to prosecute the war: “I have seen erroneous reports to the effect that the US prevented, and is preventing, us from operational actions in the region; this is incorrect. Israel is a sovereign state. Our decisions in the war are based on our operational considerations, and I will not expand further. They are not dictated by external pressure. The decision on how to use our forces is an independent decision of the IDF and nobody else.”
_x000D_“The goal is to accomplish the mission, all of our missions – especially the elimination of Hamas and the return of our hostages, while also doing everything to safeguard the lives of our soldiers.”
_x000D_Netanyahu said that war will continue “until the hostages are returned, Hamas is eliminated and we restore security in both the north and the south.”
_x000D_“We all support our heroic soldiers in achieving all of these goals. Together we will fight and – with G-d’s help – together we will win,” he concluded.
