English Briefing by Major (Res.) Keren Hajioff
13.12.23
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Please find below the transcript and video of the English briefing by Major (res.) Keren Hajioff following the IDF Spokesperon’s evening statement:
Good evening, my name is Major Keren Hajioff. Following Rear Admiral Hagari’s statement, I want to add a few words.
After Hamas violated the humanitarian pause on December 1st, we entered a new phase in our war against Hamas.
This week alone, IDF forces encountered and exposed even more evidence of Hamas’s deplorable exploitation of Gazan civilians as shields.
In Shejaiya, Khan Yunis, Rimal, and Jabalya, our troops found large weapons depots and tunnels in multiple schools - there was even a sniper rifle hidden inside a teddy bear. We found an RPG training facility inside a mosque in Jabalya. To name only a few.
The fact of the matter is - Hamas has spent the last 16 years embedding itself inside and under civilian areas in Gaza. This is the logic of Hamas’s inhumane strategy. By attacking from behind civilians – Hamas seeks to hinder the IDF’s efforts to distinguish between civilians and terrorists.
However, the complexity of the battlefield will not deter us from our efforts to do so. As a military committed to international law and a moral code of conduct, we are devoting vast resources to minimizing harm to the civilians that Hamas has forced into the role of human shields.
Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza. It’s hard to remain indifferent to the loss of innocent lives – Israeli or Palestinian. But while Hamas sees every innocent death as a strategy; we see every innocent death as a tragedy.
Here are only some of the measures that we’re taking to prevent them:
First: We are encouraging Gazan civilians to temporarily move out of the line of fire.
We published a website with maps and instructions to guide Gazans in specific neighborhoods to safer areas. Now, we understand that not everyone in Gaza may have access to the internet, so we are also communicating by dropping fliers, with instructions in Arabic. We also have IDF officers communicating in Arabic - in the media, online, on the radio and on the ground. This is in addition to tens of thousands of individual phone calls – to people in Gaza.
I want to make this very clear: Our warnings to civilians in Gaza — to move away from the danger Hamas puts them in — Ultimately means that the IDF is announcing — in advance — its areas of operations. This is almost unheard of in military warfare.
Second: We are continuously refining our operations to minimize harm to uninvolved civilians.
Throughout the war, we’ve adapted our operations and we even hold fire if necessary — to enable Gazans – to safely move through the humanitarian corridors we opened.
Third: We continuously assess and verify that our strikes are directed at military targets, and choose specific munitions for certain Hamas targets to avoid unnecessary damage.
While we take extensive measures to minimize civilian casualties, Hamas makes every effort to maximize them. That is the enemy we face. That is our reality. This is who we will defeat. Hamas tactics - as despicable as they are – will not stop us from upholding our values.
Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza. But – actions speak louder than words. Which is why yesterday, we also opened the Kerem Shalom terminal for inspection - to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
This joins our existing efforts, which have already seen over 4,000 trucks of aid - carrying 70,000 tonnes of food, water, medicine, medical gear and shelters entering Gaza since the start of this war.
On October 7th Hamas exposed its genocidal goals to the world. Hamas has announced – publicly and repeatedly — that it intends to carry out more October the 7th massacres.
The IDF will not let them.
It is our duty to defend the people of Israel – and bring our hostages home. We will continue fulfilling this mission – while taking all feasible measures to protect civilian lives.
