以色列特拉维夫-以色列国防部长Yoav Gallant认为，他的国家“没有其他选择”,只能自卫，哈马斯低估了以色列人民的“坚韧和顽固”。
周五，在特拉维夫办公室举行的一个小时的圆桌会议上，格兰特对一小群记者说，他呼应了其他以色列领导人的观点，称以色列人无处可去，他说，“这是一个强大的武器”。
“2023年不是1943年，”他补充说，指的是大屠杀。“我们现在有能力保护自己。”
哈马斯是一个激进的巴勒斯坦伊斯兰组织，被美国、欧盟和其他国家列为恐怖组织。据以色列当局称，10月7日，它从邻近的加沙地带对以色列进行了前所未有的入侵，造成1400多人死亡，其中大多数是平民，并劫持了200多名人质。作为回应，以色列军方进行了大规模空袭据哈马斯控制的卫生部称，在加沙，超过7000人死亡，超过18000人受伤。美国广播公司新闻还没有独立证实这些伤亡数字。
加沙是一块140平方英里的领土，是200万巴勒斯坦人的家园，自哈马斯2007年掌权以来，他们一直生活在邻国以色列和埃及的封锁之下。
在周五的圆桌会议上，记者就加沙平民伤亡的报道向以色列国防部长施压。他说，以色列军方正在尽一切可能防止平民丧生。人道主义机构一再警告说，在以色列的全面围困下，加沙正在发生前所未有的人道主义危机。
“我们不想打击平民，”他告诉记者。以色列政治和军事领导人坚持认为哈马斯故意隐藏在平民中。
格兰特播放了一些视频片段，他说这些视频是哈马斯在10月7日的恐怖袭击他告诉记者，没有一个片段是完整的或最生动的版本。他们描绘了残忍和暴力的谋杀行为。他指出，自大屠杀以来，他“每天”都与美国外长劳埃德·奥斯汀通话。
“国防部长奥斯汀告诉我，在他与ISIS作战的六年里，他从未见过这样的事情，”格兰特说。“我们与美国分享100%的价值观和99%的利益。”
奥斯汀曾于10月13日在特拉维夫与以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡(Benjamin Netanyahu)交谈时表示，哈马斯的袭击“比我看到的ISIS更糟糕”。
格兰特提出了一个四阶段的任务:摧毁哈马斯，归还人质，确保以色列南部边境的安全，威慑对手。他发誓，他的国家不会允许哈马斯继续生存和杀戮。
格兰特说，为了消灭哈马斯，以色列军队必须首先停止激进分子的袭击，从空中、陆地和海上打击他们。然后将有大量以色列部队对加沙进行地面行动，格兰特说这将需要很长时间。这个新阶段现在已经开始。格兰特说，接下来，以色列军方将集中力量摧毁加沙地带的抵抗力量。
最后阶段将是一名以色列官员所说的“第二天”。在这里，他们的计划没有那么详细，除了一个没有哈马斯或以色列控制的加沙的愿景。
当被问及以色列是否在等待美国开绿灯或所有人质获释后再发动地面行动时，格兰特回答说:“我们将等待最佳条件。”
在猜测伊朗是否可能参与10月7日的袭击时，格兰特告诉记者，是哈马斯决定对以色列进行致命入侵。但是他说，众所周知，伊朗向哈马斯以及黎巴嫩真主党激进组织提供资金、训练和武器。美国官员说，他们没有看到伊朗直接参与10月7日袭击的证据。
“我们不寻求更大的战争，”他补充道。“但我们正在准备对付伊朗和真主党，必须做好准备。”
Israeli defense minister talks Hamas, expanded ground operations and Iran: 'Not looking for bigger wars'
TEL AVIV, Israel --Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant believes his country has "no other choice" but to defend itself and that Hamas underestimated just how "tough and stubborn" the people of Israel are.
Echoing the sentiments of other Israeli leaders, he says Israelis have nowhere to go, saying, "this is a big and powerful weapon," Gallant told a small group of reporters during an hourlong roundtable in his Tel Aviv office on Friday.
"2023 isn't 1943," he added, referring to the Holocaust. "We now have the ability to protect ourselves."
Hamas is a militant Palestinian Islamist group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and others. It carried out an unprecedented incursion into Israel from the neighboring Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking over 200 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities. In response, the Israeli military has conductedwide-scale airstrikeson Gaza, killing more than 7,000 people and injuring over 18,000 others, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health. ABC News has not independently confirmed those casualty figures.
Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory, is home to 2 million Palestinians who have lived under a blockade imposed by neighboring Israel and Egypt since Hamas seized power in 2007.
During Friday's roundtable, journalists pressed the Israeli defense minister on the reported civilian casualties in Gaza. He said the Israeli military was doing everything possible to prevent civilian loss of life. Humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza amid Israel's total siege.
"We don't want to hit civilians," he told reporters. Israeli political and military leaders insist that Hamas deliberately hides amongst the civilian population.
Gallant played extracts of some of the videos he said were taken by Hamas duringthe Oct. 7 terror attack, telling reporters that none of the clips were the full or most graphic versions. They depicted brutal and violent acts of murder. He noted that he has spoken to his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin "every day" since the massacre.
"Secretary of Defense Austin told me that in the six years he was fighting ISIS, he never saw anything like it," Gallant said. "We share 100% of the values and 99% of the interests with the United States."
Austin had said during remarks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Oct. 13 in Tel Aviv that the attacks by Hamas were "worse than what I saw with ISIS."
Gallant laid out a four-stage mission: destroy Hamas, return the hostages, secure Israel's southern border and deter adversaries. He vowed that his country will not allow Hamas to survive and kill again.
In order to eliminate Hamas, Gallant said the Israeli military must first stop the militants' attacks and target them from the air, land and sea. Then there will be a ground operation of Gaza with a large number of Israeli forces, which Gallant said will take a long time. This new phase has now begun. Next, Gallant said the Israeli military will focus on destroying pockets of resistance in Gaza.
The final phase will be what an Israeli official calls "the day after." Here their plans are less detailed other than a vision for Gaza without Hamas or Israel in charge.
When asked whether Israel was waiting to launch the ground operation until the U.S. gives the green light or all the hostages are released, Gallant replied: "We will wait for the best conditions."
Amid speculation over whether Iran was potentially involved in the Oct. 7 attack, Gallant told reporters it was Hamas' decision to carry out the deadly incursion into Israel. But he said Iran is known to provide funding, training and weapons to Hamas as well as to Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group. U.S. officials have said they have not seen evidence of Iran's direct involvement in the Oct. 7 attack.
"We are not looking for bigger wars," he added. "But we are preparing ourselves against Iran and Hezbollah and have to be ready."
