We continue to act to destroy, demolish Hamas: Israel

Tel Aviv [Israel], October 16 : Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said that Israel Defence Forces have carried out hundreds of strikes against Hamas operatives since its attack on October 7. He asserted that Israel continues to act in order to destroy and demolish the capabilities of Hamas, adding that the terrorist group will not be allowed to use Gaza Strip as a staging ground for attacks against Israel and our civilians."
While addressing a media briefing, he said, "We are in day 10 of our war on Hamas after the government instructed us to destroy Hamas's capabilities, its infrastructure, pursue its leaders, and restore security and safety to the people of Israel. Indeed, throughout the last ten days, the IDF has conducted hundreds of strikes against Hamas operatives, the leadership, its institutions and its terrorist infrastructure."
"The terrorist infrastructure includes advanced capabilities such as drone, explosives, rockets, tunnel capabilities, and the Hamas leaders themselves. I can say and confirm it at this time that we have targeted and killed several of their leaders, including terrorists that actually participated in the butchering of babies in their bedrooms, and we continue to act in order to destroy and demolish Hamas' capabilities, governing and military capabilities. Hamas will not be permitted to govern the Gaza Strip as a staging ground for attacks against Israel and our civilians," he added.
He said that there are still concerns of security in southern communities of Israel. He said, "On day 10, I can still confirm that there are still concerns of security in southern communities of Israel. Over the last 24 hours, there was three engagements in and around the border area with terrorists that attempted to attack Israel, including in ..... I can confirm that in each of the engagements, every time a terrorist meets an IDF soldier, the terrorist is killed."
He said that Israel continues to press for an evacuation of people from the north of the Gaza Strip towards the south. He noted that several hundreds of thousand of people have listened to their advice to move out of north Gaza and relocate to the south. He said that terrorist group Hamas in the past few tried to stop the evacuation of people.
"We are continuing to press for an evacuation from the north of Gaza Strip towards the south. On the day four of our since our calling, we have seen several hundreds of thousands of people listening to our efforts calling people to move south in order to evacuate the area and enable us to differentiate between combat between Hamas terrorists and non-combatants," Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said.
"And indeed, it is part of our humanitarian efforts to differ as a temporary measure to remove people from Hamas's way while we deal with Hamas and that is contrary to what Hamas does as they operate and in order to maximize civilian casualty of Palestinians themselves. Over the last few days, we've seen extreme efforts of Hamas to try and prevent evacuation of people, including physical barriers, what appears to be explosive devices on the roads and indeed they are challenging people's will to live the Palestinians will to live in Gaza by preventing them from moving," he added.
He said that Israel is taking all the steps necessary in order to encourage people to move south. He stressed that IDF does not target intentionally or seek to target or harm civilians unlike Hamas, and the military is operating to achieve its goal of destroying Hamas's capability.
On the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner says, "In anticipation of the situation with Hezbollah, we had several attacks by Hezbollah across the border in the north with several anti-tank guided missiles fired at our forces and I would like to seeHezbollah is trying to increase pressure at the will of Iran in order to undermine the efforts Hamas's capability in the Gaza strip, they are doing this to escalate the situation in the border, in order to challenge Israel..."
Renana Gome, an Israeli woman, has called for help to reunite with her two sons taken hostage by Hamas. She described the horrific moment her life was turned upside down. She could not hold back her tears while she spoke about how her sons were taken hostage by Hamas. On Saturday, the IDF confirmed that over 120 civilians are being held captive in Gaza by the Hamas.
Recalling the day, Gome said, "Red alerts go off...(on October 7) The attack starts, 2 hours passing by. Phone calls every couple of minutes from my boys, they were scared. I started getting texts from other members of the community saying that the terrorists were walking around freely and trying to get into houses. My boys told me that they heard gunshots outside the house and I am trying to tell them its probably the army that is trying to help them to keep them safe."
She stated that her son tried to stop the terrorists from entering the bedroom. However, the terrorists snapped her two sons out of their room and dragged them into Gaza. She stated that Hamas terrorists had cameras so that they could share the post on social media sites and celebrate the murder and destruction.
"On the phone, I hear people speaking Arabic, opening the door. After that, I heard that my eldest 16-year-old boy was holding the door, and they (terrorists) had a hard time opening the door but they did and they opened. They snapped my two boys out of their bedroom and dragged them into Gaza. The last thing I heard was my youngest, only 12, saying 'I am too young, don't take me. And they took them and I have heard nothing from them since... This is a nightmare... They had head cameras...."
She further said, "Israeli soldiers have cameras on them so that if they do anything immoral, they can be judged. These people had cameras so that they could put it on Instagram and Facebook and celebrate the murder and destruction... They destroyed everything... Somewhere in Gaza, I don't know if they (my sons) are eating, sleeping, tortured, together or alive. They are 80 members of our community Our whole community is gone..."
Another Israeli woman Shaylee Atary shared how her husband was murdered by terrorists. The Health Ministry said that as of 10:30 am (local time) on Monday, 351 people injured since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 continue to remain in hospital, The Times of Israel reported.
Of them, 89 are in serious condition, 181 are in moderate condition, and 81 are in good condition. A total of 3,968 injured individuals have been brought to hospitals in Israel since Hamas's attack on October 7.