Chief of Staff visits Rafah: 'This is all Iran - it's an octopus with arms'

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on Friday held a situational assessment in the Rafah area of ​​the Gaza Strip with the Commanding Officer of the Southern Command, MG Yaron Finkelman, the Commanding Officer of the 162nd Division, BG Itzik Cohen, the brigade commanders, and additional commanders.

"Why am I talking to you about these things?" Halevi questioned during the assessment. "I'm telling you, everything is connected. It's all Iran. This UAV is Iranian, right? The Houthis took it, upgraded it, made its range longer, and this is Iran, and the funds for the tunnels here is from Iran, and we are operating against Iran with great determination."

"In the end, it’s an octopus, it has many arms, you struggle with one arm here, you struggle with others there, and we must understand this matter. It demands excellence against each one. You have to really excel and be very effective in combat."

Halevi stressed that "a professional operation here influences all of Iran’s proxies. Remember this, you are doing highly professional work and this is very evident."

"The Air Force intercepted hundreds of UAVs in this war inside and outside of the borders of the State of Israel, with a lot of learning. We had an unsuccessful event tonight, we are learning, improving, and fixing, and we will be better in defense, in offense, in everything that happens we need to see what we can learn going forward, and remember that the next event will not necessarily be the same."