Hamas fighters still making attempts to enter Israel; No aerial incursions from Lebanon
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A spokesperson for the Israeli forces, Lt-Col Richard Hecht, stated that strikes on Gaza last night targeted members of Hamas’s elite Nakhba force. He also said that Israeli intelligence is focusing on identifying the fighters who staged the incursion “after interrogating people captured.”
Hecht said the IDF intends to target Hamas senior leadership, beyond its military wing but also political figures that operate in government institutions.
Hamas fighters are still attempting to enter Israeli territory by sea, he said. “We’ve intercepted a few maritime targets.”
The IDF is still securing the border area around Gaza, “building little barricades with tanks and cover to slowly secure the border. It’s not hermetic,” but the IDF has “overflowed the area,” with soldiers.
Anyone who approaches the Gaza border, said Hecht, “will be shot. Anyone. No one’s coming in, no one’s coming out.”
The IDF is “preparing ourselves for the next stages of war,” but any decision regarding a ground invasion comes from the government.
Regarding suggestions of an incursion by air that occurred last night from Lebanon, Hecht described reports that gliders or drones had entered Israeli airspace as a result of a “human mistake”.
The IDF has widened and intensified the scope of its bombing campaign in Gaza, Hecht said “we are not just doing carpet bombing, although there are some people who would like to see that. We are not going for any target which is not based on intelligence. Yes, it is bigger than they have seen before, If there’s a person hiding somewhere we will notify them and people who want to leave will leave. The scale and scope of this is going to be very severe.”
Asked how the IDF can notify people in Gaza when the area has no power and very little telephone connectivity, Hecht replied: “The notification is through phone calls, social media, and that’s how we’re doing it right now. There is also an option of sending (firing) a small munition onto the roof or perimeter, then people know it’s a sign for them to move.”
