Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant visited the Shayetet 13 Naval Commando base, where he was briefed on the unit's operations in the war with Admiral of the Navy David Saar Salama, the unit's deputy commander, and the squadron commanders.
Gallant expressed his appreciation to the commandos for their work to stop the Hamas terrorists in the Gaza envelope and to destroy terrorist infrastructure during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip. In addition, the Minister discussed the operational plans for the continued operation in Gaza.
At the end of his visit, Gallant told the commandos: "We are going to eliminate Hamas as a military and governing framework. We need to eliminate the line of command, both those at the top as well as those in the field: company commanders, battalion commanders, brigade commanders, and also those field operatives.
What was made clear during this operation from the first stages is what is known and clear: Hamas only understands force. And that means - if you apply pressure, you have someone to talk to; if you don't apply pressure, you can wait on the lines of the Gaza Strip for months and years, and no one will talk to you because their demands are totally different, not the release of terrorists. Therefore, pressure is the basis."
Regarding the hostage deal, he stated: "What you will see in the coming days is the beginning of the release of hostages. This break will be short. What is required of you during this break is to get organized, get ready, investigate, get armed, and prepare for the continuation. There will be a continuation since we need to complete the victory and create the levers for the next groups of hostages who will only come as a result of pressure.
This is an inevitable war. When they abduct and kill 1500 of your people, you have to create a situation where you destroy the organization that's against you; otherwise, you don't have deterrence which allows for life in the Middle East. If Jewish blood becomes worthless, then anyone will do as they like, if it comes with an unbearable price, they will respect us."
Gallant concluded: "I predict that in the next month or two, at least, there will be intense fighting, and after that, there will be a lot of operations in which the Shayetet will have what to do until we reach a situation where there will be no military threat from the Gaza Strip, and we will have the freedom to do what we wish at any given moment."