- विज्ञापन -
Jerusalem: Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the implementation of a four-hour daily humanitarian pause in Gaza will not affect the raging war in the enclave with the Hamas militants and also not amount to a ceasefire.
Addressing reporters on Thursday night, the Minister said: “We will not cease the fire or stop fighting as long as we have hostages in Gaza. And as long as we haven’t completed our mission which is to destroy Hamas, and dismantle its military and governance capabilities.” He also stressed that the pauses were “local and limited” to specific places in the northern Gaza Strip to allow civilians to flee.
“We’re carrying specific moves to allow the exit of Palestinian civilians from Gaza City to the south, to avoid hurting them. These do not affect the fighting,” Gallant noted. The Defence Minister went on to say that the Israel Defense Forces soldiers were operating “in the heart of Gaza City” and are “very close to the Gaza port”. Without going into the specifics, he said the forces have started using “new methods” to destroy underground tunnels used by the Hamas.
The Minister’s remarks came hours after the White House announced that Israel had agreed to move forward with the daily four-hour pauses of military operations in areas of northern Gaza.
