The IDF reports that eight soldiers for seriously injured in combat against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The soldiers came from the Golani and combat engineering corps.
Two additional soldiers from the Maglan special force or seriously injured in combat in the south of the Gaza Strip, and an officer from the 82nd battalion was injured in the northern area of the Gaza Strip.
The battalion commander of the Golani training base, Lieutenant General Shahar Barkai, suffered intermediate injuries in combat in southern Gaza. He entered his post to take over from another officer who was wounded during the combat in Israel, and will now return to commanding the unit. Barkai was injured in the same incident during which five other soldiers suffered more serious injuries.
Today (14.12.2023) Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant met U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan at the MoD Headquarters in Tel Aviv. During the meeting, the parties discussed operational developments in Gaza, the northern border with Lebanon, and the need to enable Israeli citizens to return to their homes in the north. They also discussed various threats in the Middle East region including Iranian aggression via its proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
Minister Gallant emphasized that the State of Israel will support international efforts in countering naval threats and will defend itself against any threat.
Minister Gallant expressed his deep appreciation to the U.S. Administration for the ongoing support provided to the State of Israel in its efforts to return home the hostages, and to achieving its operational goal of dismantling the Hamas terrorist organization.
Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant commented: "The United States and Israel share common interests, common values and in this war, we also share common goals. This is important to the State of Israel and it is essential to the rest of the region, to the Middle East. Thank you to the United States and to you personally for standing with us.”
"Hamas is a terrorist organization that built itself over a decade to fight Israel, and they built infrastructure under the ground and above the ground and it is not easy to destroy them. It will require a period of time - it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them [Hamas].”
