IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said that the Israeli military was aiming for the heads of senior officials during a visit to Gaza’s Shifa hospital on Wednesday.
“The arrest of senior officials is very, very important in order to put pressure on Hamas.
“It is very important to put pressure on the negotiations as well, and we are serving two purposes here,” he said.
“Severe damage to Hamas, dissolution of Hamas, killing of the military leadership, damage to the civilian leadership, damage to the terrorists. We should not let such a place rule,” he added.
Netanyahu: Rafah operation ‘will take some time’
Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said plans to evacuate Rafah civilians would be approved soon in a video published on Wednesday.
נפעל ברפיח בכל העוצמה. עדכון ממני אליכם, אזרחי ישראל >> pic.twitter.com/nV957Byyfs
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 20, 2024
He added, “While we are preparing to enter Rafah, which will take some time, we continue to operate with all our might. We continue to operate in Khan Yunis, in the central camps, in the elimination and capture of senior Hamas officials as we did now in Shifa, in the elimination of many hundreds of terrorists.”