Monday, 5 January 2009
The IDF is prepared to enter urban and built-up areas in the Gaza Strip if the need arises, a senior officer said Monday as military forces completed their deployment in northern Gaza and were surrounding Gaza City.
"This is what the troops have trained for and are designated to do - to fight in densely-populated areas," the senior officer said.
Over the past year, all of the units that have been deployed in Gaza and are scheduled to be deployed have undergone training at the IDF's Ground Forces Command Urban Training Center near Tze'elim. There, the IDF has built a mock-Palestinian city where the forces train on operating in populated areas.
"We built models for them of places inside Gaza," the officer said. "There are places that replicate city outskirts, the casba marketplaces and over-populated refugee camps."
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that "Gaza City is partially surrounded" and that "IDF troops have so far reached the targets that have been set for them."
He said that more than 500 Palestinians, mostly Hamas gunmen, had been killed thus far in Operation Cast Lead and that some 2,200 had been wounded.
Barak noted that there had been one fatality among the IDF troops, while four soldiers had been seriously wounded and eight moderately wounded. The defense minister expressed his condolences for the family of St.-Sgt. Dvir Emmanueloff - killed on Sunday by mortar shell shrapnel during clashes with Hamas gunmen near Jabalya - and wished the casualties a speedy recovery.
"Hamas has been dealt a very severe blow, but we still haven't reached the end goal we set for ourselves, and therefore, the operation is continuing," Barak stressed, adding, however, that so were diplomatic efforts.
He said that IDF Armored Corps, Engineering Corps and Artillery Corps soldiers were participating in the ground operation, alongside special forces and backed up by the navy and air force.
"There is no enthusiasm for bloodshed," he emphasized. "We are doing all any peace-loving nation would do for its citizens, and that is to protect them."
Barak expressed his appreciation for southerners, their community leaders and the Home Front Command and stated that the Gaza operation would continue until quiet is restored to the South.
"The aim is simple," he added. "No terror activity from Gaza - either against civilians or against our soldiers, a dramatic change in weapons smuggling and quiet in the South."
"We also have an eye on events in the North," continued the defense minister. "We are ready and are closely following all developments."
Earlier Monday, IDF Military Intelligence Head Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin had warned that Hizbullah may begin to fire Katyusha rockets at northern Israel in response to the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip.
