We need to destroy Hamas, says Israeli Consul General to South India
The Consul General of Israel to South India, Tammy Ben-Haim said on Wednesday that her country's main priority at present is to stop the ongoing situation with Hamas and make sure that Hamas won't try the same in future.
"At the moment, we need to stop what is happening now. The terror that is happening now, we need to make sure it stops and not only does it stop and we bring our hostages back, but we also need to make sure that we destroy Hamas so much, we hurt their infrastructure, we hurt their commanders that they will not think of ever striking Israel again," she said.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Israeli Consul General Ben-Haim also spoke about the current situation in Israel and said that Hamas is targeting the cities of country with rockets and mortars.
She said, "Army and IDF have taken control of the areas of the towns that are in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip. We are still fighting to completely secure our country, to secure our citizens and everybody living in Israel. This morning, two terrorists were found within Israel and were neutralized. While all this is happening, Hamas is still bombarding Israel, not just south Israel, but also Central Israel and the cities of Tel Aviv with rockets and mortars."
She added, "We are in a full-fledged war against Hamas, against a terror organization making sure this horrible, heinous, inhumane attack stops."
Tammy Ben-Haim also emphasised that the Hamas' goal is to harm Jews and Israelis and said that the terror group uses the civilian buildings and schools for hiding their commanders and weaponry.
She said, "This is not the first time we're seeing it, what we always say. Hamas, these terrorists, they go in. Their aim is as we said, and we've seen it. Nobody can deny it now. Their aim is to kill and hurt Jewish. Israeli and whoever else they find."\
She said further, "Babies, children, women, invalids, the elderly Holocaust survivors. They don't care who they want to kill and what do they do. They go behind their own citizens who they don't invest in who they don't help and hide behind them. They put their weapon storage in hospitals. They use children's kindergartens and schools to hide their commanders and to hide their weapon stashes."
Speaking about the safety of Israelis and others in Israel, Consul Ben-Haim shared that the country is fully prepared to face such situations claiming that the country has been facing attacks for years.
"We've been facing wars. We've been facing terror attacks for years. Almost every house in Israel and apartment buildings have. A special shelter, a bomb shelter, a special shelter room, and in Israel when rockets are being fired by the Hamas terror organization into Israel, we get alerts on our mobile phones. We get alerts on the radio, on TV, on the internet saying," she said.
She added, "Please go to the safe shelter and stay there for ten minutes. Sometimes it's 15, so it changes. Each message changes so people know already to either. If they have it in their home, they go to their home. If they're in a public area, they're public shelters, we do everything we can. We take every precaution to make sure that everybody is safe."
Hailing India's support to Israel in the tough times of Hamas attack, she said that many of Indian families in Israel decided to stay back expressing trust in the country's security.
Israeli Consul General said, "We've been speaking to some of our Indian friends who are in Israel. Many have chosen to stay, they trust Israel, they trust our security, they trust our system, they know that we will take care of them like we take care of everybody else living in Israel and they've chosen to stay, which I think is a great sentiment and is also by the way, maybe without even speaking, it's a great show of support for us."
The Israel Defence Forces said on Wednesday that 1200 Israelis were killed and more than 2,700 wounded since the Hamas attack began on Saturday. The IDF emphasised that the Israeli soldiers are ready to execute mission in Gaza.
Earlier today, continuing its air assault on Hamas in the wake of the multi-pronged terror attacks, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it struck over 200 targets of the terrorist group in the Al Furkan neighbourhood of the besieged Gaza Strip.
"The IDF continues extensive waves of attacks in the Gaza Strip; dozens of Air Force fighter jets attacked over 200 targets in the Al Furkan neighbourhood for the third time in the past day This is the third attack in the area during the last day, in which the IDF attacked over 450 targets in the area of the neighbourhood," the IDF posted on X.
The IDF also confirmed that the first plane carrying U.S. armaments has since arrived at the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel this evening. The IDF said that cooperation between the two militaries, is a key part of ensuring regional security and stability in times of war.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared Hamas with ISIS saying both terror organisations were the same and should be treated as such.
