The Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Brigadier General Omer Tishler, spoke today (Wednesday) about what is happening in the Air Force. "We are in the midst of a difficult war, what happened on Saturday morning is a difficult and intolerable event, inhumane. This is a despicable enemy that emanates from the civilian population and murders a civilian population. We as the army are responsible for the fact that we did not prevent this criminal event, we are responsible and I am responsible."
IDF soldiers among the ruins in the village of Gaza, photo: Reuters
Brig. Gen. Tischler added, "In all my 30 years of service, I have never had such an experience, I am talking about what we do. We're attacking in a way that the Gaza Strip hasn't experienced, and it's not like anything that happened in recent years, because it's an event that simply wasn't. There is an enemy here that fires rockets, raids the civilian population. When I say that the situation needs to be fundamentally changed as far as I and the IDF are concerned, as I operate, this event is over, and that's not what we're going back to. It's very clear."
Regarding the IDF's modus operandi, he said: "We operate as a systematic machine together – sea, land, air. It starts with intelligence, there are planning projects of hundreds of people, reserves, regulars. From there it goes to the squadrons. All the squadrons, from a helicopter to a UAV, work in a very wide sequence. Foiling senior officials, attacking war rooms, hunting operatives outside homes and operatives inside buildings. We operate within broad terrorist centers according to terrorist centers and attack very aggressively."
Sejaiya neighborhood. Before and after the attacks, photo: IDF Spokesperson
Attack on a rocket launcher at a military site belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization // Photo: IDF Spokesperson
"Behind every attack there is a target," said Brigadier General Tischler, "We operate accurately and professionally, but not surgically. I don't deal with individuals, dozens or hundreds. We are talking about thousands of munitions. Behind every such goal there is an essence. Imagine at operational headquarters, hundreds of reservists, regular together, green, white, blue. Airplanes get targets. Imagine the skies of Gaza from the lowest point to the highest. Reconnaissance, assault aircraft, UAVs and helicopters. Anyone crossing from Gaza to Israel is attacked.
"There are hundreds of people working around the clock, as far as I'm concerned, there's no difference between day and night. We get to the planes, get the targets and the munitions are waiting for them. This is what a war looks like, not a round. Patience is very important to me. I look ahead, this machine will work, attack and destroy. That's how you act if you want to uproot those terror centers, and when Hamas operates from civilian places, as far as I'm concerned, it's not coming back."
Al Furkan neighborhood. Before and after attacks,
Tischler also emphasized that "this is not just an attacking system. There is a collection system, flying forces to the south and north, flying the wounded, a transport system that brings our people in the process from other countries. An ammunition plane from the United States landed here. The control system that constitutes the connection between the operational headquarters and the combat forces in the field. The whole world of aid close to the fighting forces. There is no energy limit as far as I'm concerned, we'll be here as long as necessary, day and night, working."
Regarding the defense, he said: "The IDF acted against hundreds of Hamas terrorists in our territory, and now we are creating a ground, air and ground defense line. Regarding the world of active and air defense, I say, there is no hermeticism here, this is war. We intercept by the thousands, this is combined with the very responsible behavior of the public that hears and listens to the IDF's instructions.
"From a multi-front perspective, we are focused on Gaza. We are also deployed strongly in the north and are strengthening forces in the north as well. The IDF knows how to operate on a multi-front basis, as long as necessary. Together with our American partners, we all heard the president. You see how munitions have landed here, it creates combat length and duration of fighting, and it will continue."
Documentation: Landing of the first cargo plane with a shipment of ammunition from the US // Photo: Spokesperson and Public Relations Division of the Ministry of Defense
Referring to the first hours after the brutal invasion by Hamas terrorists, he said: "In those first hours, we flew forces that arrived into an active combat zone. Fighters unload from helicopters and go to hand-to-hand combat. Everyone who was in the Air Force leapt into the sky. Everyone ran to the squadrons, the control rooms, the air defense system and all the air force systems. All the energy of the corps personnel is directed to the destruction of the enemy."
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