Tel Aviv [Israel], October 7 : Calling the rocket strikes by Hamas on Israel a "tremendous failure" of the Israeli defence establishment, the former spokesperson of Israel Defence Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said that the current focus is on defending the lives and eliminating the terrorists.
This comes after a barrage of rockets slammed into southern and central Israel on Saturday morning, after Hamas launched a surprise attack.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Jonathan Conricus said, "The IDF, the entire defence establishment, obviously has been caught unaware, and this is a tremendous failure of the defensive efforts, a failure that will have to be rigorously examined, and tough questions will be asked by Israeli civilians living in those communities. I suggest that these topics will be left for the day after".
"What needs to be done now is to find all the terrorists, kill them as soon as possible, and then start making Hamas and their senders pay an extremely unbearable, heavy price for their murderous attacks against Israeli civilians. A time will come when Israelis will sit down and ask questions and answer questions. Now the focus is on defending lives and getting the terrorists out of Israel and preventing a further escalation of the situation inside Israel," he added.
According to the latest development, at least 22 people have been killed and around 300 people were wounded in the attack and over 70 people were seriously injured.
On being asked about the claims of Hamas holding five Israeli soldiers hostage, the IDF spokesperson said that it is "unconfirmed information".
"What I understand, and this is still unconfirmed information, is that Hamas breached the border and crossed into Israel from various locations and conducted coordinated attacks against multiple targets, multiple communities close to the border. At least five different communities were attacked on the ground by ground terrorists. They were in pickup trucks, much like ISIS uses," Conricus said.
He added, "I have seen footage of motorcycles and other terrain vehicles and even of gliders coming in from the air. There are reports of assaults from the sea as well. So this is a multidimensional attack, ground, air, and sea that Hamas has staged against Israel, and they are using the vehicles in order to take back bodies, whether dead or alive, of Israeli civilians. They claim to have 35 Israelis captive in Gaza," he added.
Calling the Hamas attacks as "unprecedented", Conricus said that this will generate a "fierce response" from Israel.
"I cannot stress enough how unprecedented these attacks are, the magnitude, the audacity of these terrorists in their actions against Israel. This will generate a fierce response from the state of Israel, which I think will not be confined to the geographical area of Gaza alone," he added.
Israel has already declared a state of war in the country after infiltration by Hamas fighters and missile attacks from Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces launched Operation 'Iron Swords' in response to Hamas's surprise attack on Israel, the Times of Israel reported. IDF is striking Hamas targets in Gaza.
In the first reaction to the 'surprise attack', PM Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel "is at war", further asserting that they will "win it".
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