Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Richard Hecht told CNN on Saturday that he hopes by the end of the day Saturday, there will be no more live terrorists in Israel.
We are very much focused on saving forces, where there is ongoing fighting as we speak and handling these terrorists, hopefully by the end of the day there will be no more live terrorists inside Israel,” Hecht said in an interview with CNN.
To secure the area for civilians, special forces are fighting in various locations and firefighters and taking control and cleaning some areas, he added.
Additionally, "tens of thousands" of Israeli reservists have been called up to help since the offensive began early on Saturday, Hecht said.
When asked how Israel is securing infiltration routes, Hecht said, “We are fully deployed and focused on air coverage to see what is happening, we deployed forces to the infiltration points and again we are slowly securing the area and trying to take care of all these people that came in.”
The IDF is concerned about a possible attack coming from the northern countries of Lebanon or Syria, Hecht said. “We are ready in the north [in] case there is some Palestinian faction, in case they decide to come into it we will be ready, something we are looking at and we are ready for it.”
