Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said that Iran's leaders have fled into tunnels, promising that the war against Iran will continue until all objectives have been achieved.
On Wednesday morning, Defense Minister Israel Katz held a situational assessment together with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Defense Ministry Director-General Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amir Baram, Intelligence Directorate head Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, Operations Directorate head Maj. Gen. Itzik Cohen, Home Front Command head Maj. Gen. Shay Kalper, the Defense Minister’s military secretary Brig. Gen. Guy Markizeno, Research Division head Brig. Gen. Ofir Mizrahi-Rozen, Operations Division head Brig. Gen. Israel Shomer, Israeli Air Force chief of staff Brig. Gen. Gilad Keinan, and additional senior defense officials.
During the situational assessment, Katz said: "I praise the very impressive achievements in both offense and defense and the joint activity with our American partner. The surviving Iranian leadership are a group of cowards who act bravely only against women, children, and the elderly in the streets, specializing in massacres and the killing of civilians - and they are already threatening to murder and slaughter anyone who protests."
"But as we see, Chief of Staff, when they encounter real force, they flee like rats into tunnels, just like the Hamas leadership in Gaza. Today they truly resemble Hamas, and from there they give orders to fire at civilians and children in Israel and across the region. That is exactly what remains of them - a Hamas-like leadership."
He added, "The IDF, together with our partner, is carrying out impressive and systematic operations targeting regime personnel themselves, the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij. Many thousands have been killed, and because they shut down the internet they are concealing the numbers."
"I understand that the morgues in hospitals are full, and we are talking here about terror forces, not civilians, and this effort must certainly continue. We will continue to act and crush the regime and its strategic targets in Tehran and across Iran, day after day, target after target. We will also continue in order to enable the Iranian people to rise up and remove this regime. Ultimately, this is something that depends on them.
"This operation, led by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - who speak and coordinate daily and from there guide and set policy - and carried out by you and by CENTCOM together with the US military, will continue without any time limit, for as long as necessary, until we achieve all objectives and decisively win the campaign."