Saturday, January 10, 2009

IDF Goals

1. The supreme responsibility of the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Forces is to protect the residents of the State of Israel and to fight terrorism. Therefore, the IDF will continue to act against the terrorism infrastructure of Hamas.. 2. Concomitantly, Israel is working in diplomatic channels to achieve the goals that were set, with emphasis on preventing the continued smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip.

3. It should be emphasized that, in its resolution yesterday evening, the UN Security Council categorically stated the need to create a mechanism to prevent the smuggling of weapons and the necessity of establishing a durable ceasefire as a condition for the withdrawal of IDF forces from the Gaza Strip, and it expressly noted the cessation of terrorist actions against Israel.

4. Hamas’ response to the United Nations resolution was absolute rejection, accompanied by an intensification of the shooting at Israeli civilians. It should be noted that after the announcement of the Security Council resolution, Hamas fired more rockets than it had launched over the past few days put together. In such a situation, no one can expect Israel to refrain from responding and from defending itself.

5. Hamas has sustained a severe blow, including to its military arm. The continued military pressure will intensify that blow and the damage to the terrorism infrastructure. The Palestinian public in Gaza as well is voicing sharp criticism at Hamas, holding it responsible for the present situation.

6. Israel will continue to act in the broadest possible manner with regard to humanitarian aid, in cooperation with the international aid organizations. It should be noted that when Israel operated a “humanitarian corridor,” which included the suspension of the military operation for several hours, Hamas exploited the time to open fire at Israeli cities and toward IDF forces, to re-equip and to re-arm.

7. It should be emphasized that the IDF is operating against Hamas and its personnel, and that the residents of the Gaza Strip are not Israel’s enemy. While the IDF is acting against Hamas, Israel is making every effort to accelerate and improve the transfer of humanitarian aid to the civilian population. The difficulties faced by the IDF soldiers are a result of the hostage situation intentionally created by Hamas, who are waging war in the midst of densely populated areas, while exploiting civilians as human shields.

מח' מידע ואינטרנט – אגף תקשורת

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