Israel - October 17, 2024

[Note: partially no sound]

The Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, and the Head of the ISA, Ronen Bar, arrived at the location where Yahya Sinwar was eliminated, with the Commanding Officer of the Southern Command, MG Yaron Finkelman, the Head of the Operations Directorate (J3), MG Oded Basiuk and the Commanding Officer of the Gaza Division, BG Barak Hiram.

Attached is the full translation of the remarks of the Chief of the General Staff:

This man planned, initiated, gave orders, and executed, and I assume that if we had left him alive, he would have continued to do so in the future. Everywhere, IDF soldiers and commanders are acting with true determination and are initiating contact. I think what's particularly special here is the operational approach and the determination of the Southern Command and the Gaza Division to effectively take hold of the area, and the right actions of the Bislach Brigade and the battalions to be very proactive and push forward. And look, we conducted many special operations in this war where we had excellent information, and we deployed forces prepared with pinpoint accuracy on where to go. Here, we didn’t have that and the response was very, very strong. This is your professionalism, your determination, your sharp identification followed by alertness. We’re just after October 7th and a bit before Simchat Torah, and in these eleven days between the Hebrew calendar year and the Gregorian calendar year, we are settling the score with Sinwar, who is responsible for that very difficult day a year ago.