Significant gaps between the political and military echelons' announcements regarding the objectives of the war in the Gaza Strip. While the first cabinet announcement stated that the goal was to destroy Hamas' military and governmental capabilities, and National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi said accordingly this evening, the IDF Spokesperson's statement stated that the goal was more limited: "defeating Hamas and eliminating all the senior officials involved in the murderous events on Saturday."
Hanegbi was confronted with a quote of himself six days before the attack, and replied: "We were wrong" // Photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
The gaps between the army and the political echelon have risen more than once over the past week, and now a government minister told Israel Hayom: "I very much hope that the IDF Spokesperson only failed in his language and nothing more. This goal is not the goal defined by the government and the cabinet. Defeating Hamas (meaning that Hamas will 'lose' the war and we will 'win') is in no way a goal agreed upon by the government."
"The goal that has been defined is to erase all of the military capabilities of the Gaza Strip - all of them, in such a way that the Gaza Strip will no longer have any armed force with military capabilities of any kind."
IDF Spokesperson: "We will attack Gaza with great force in the near future" // Credit: IDF Spokesperson
The minister added: "The State of Israel will no longer live in the shadow of terror from Gaza, and will not allow any arming of Gaza by waiting between rounds. This story will end now, forever. The way to reach this goal – defined by the government and the cabinet – is in no way to deal only with senior officials who were involved in the recent murderous events, as the IDF Spokesperson said, but, as stated, by wiping out the entire military force in Gaza."
The main concern is that the IDF will dwarf the target in a way that will prevent the implementation of the cabinet's decision to topple Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The minister also refers to the aerial crushing throughout the week, which has not yet led to significant results on the ground.
"This gap between the government and the army is approaching its critical stage now that we are preparing for the ground incursion," he said.
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