Former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF), Yair Golan, warned that “under no circumstances” should soldiers enter the Gaza tunnel network, in what would be “a serious mistake.”
In an interview broadcast Thursday on Israeli army radio, Golan said that “it is not necessary to enter the tunnels” where Hamas is hiding and waiting for soldiers, but that the most appropriate thing would be to “find the entrances and seal them or blow smoke.” “. so that the enemy goes away.”
“Under no circumstances do you fight in the tunnels, where it is impossible not to be injured. You do not fight inside the tunnels, you fight against the threat,” said Golan, currently retired and linked to leftist politics in Israel.
Asked if Hamas is capable of remaining “forever” within its vast network of underground tunnels, Golan assured that the army “today has the capacity to deal with the tunnels effectively, with all the means and knowledge.”
Golan further stated that “from the moment the entrances to the tunnels are found, the Israeli forces will have a complete advantage.”
Regarding the issue of the 242 hostages held by Hamas, Golan was cautious about possible agreements to obtain their release.
Asked whether he would favor a deal in which the hostages were freed in exchange for safe passage for Hamas leaders to Iran, Syria or elsewhere, the official said “it would be too good to be true if “It was possible to reach an agreement in which the Hamas leaders left and the hostages were freed.”
In Golan’s opinion, if asked whether Israel would be willing to pay a high price for the release of the hostages, “the answer would be yes.”
On October 7, the Islamist group Hamas, considered terrorist by the European Union and the United States, launched a surprise attack against southern Israel with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen, taking more than two hundred hostages.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas, a movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, bombing several of the group’s infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and imposing a total siege on the territory, cutting off the supply of water, fuel and electricity.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the United States, has already caused thousands of deaths and injuries, among soldiers and civilians, in both territories.
Source: TSF
