Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkott
Chief of Staff Gadi EizenkottIDF Spokesman Unit

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkott commented this morning (Tuesday) on the recent wave of Arab terror and rejected calls for a "Defensive Shield 2" in Judea and Samaria.

"We tried to understand who is a stabbing terrorist and who is a suicidal terrorist. Ninety-five percent of them are young single people who make the decision themselves," he said during a conference in memory of former Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak.

Speaking about the possibility of an expansive military operation, Eizenkott explained that "whoever doesn't understand the situation in the field is calling for a 'Defensive Shield 2.' Those who understand the situation know that it has changed since Defensive Shield, and that the IDF is acting freely."

He further revealed that, of the Palestinian families who receive permits to work in Israel, only one person has carried out a terror attack. In that case, it was the minor who murdered Dafna Meir in Otniel.

As for the terror tunnels in Gaza, Eizenkott says that the task of eliminating the tunnels has been the IDF's top priority for 2015 and 2016. "We have the most advanced capability in the world and it is still a very large challenge. We don't let the fact that things are quiet in the south fool us.

"The question of whether it would be right or not to carry out a frontal attack should be decided in the right spaces. We are making very strong efforts, most of which are hidden from the public eye, but anyone who goes near the Strip will see almost a hundred engineering vehicles."