Top IDF officer defends Israel's actions in Gaza, says Hamas was defeated

The Israel Defense Forces did not use excessive force in the fighting in Gaza, the commander of the Givati infantry brigade, whose soldiers fought there over the past two weeks, said.

"I will not send 10 soldiers into a house suspected of being booby-trapped in order for them to blow up, before I have created the conditions that will guarantee their safety," Colonel Ilan Malka said. "In the Warm Winter operation in March 2008 in Jabalya, I lost two soldiers who were shot by armed men who came out of one of the houses. This time we understood that in the face of the enemy's preparations we needed to create proper conditions for bringing in the forces, and that is what we did."

Malka, speaking at a press conference at an IDF base in the Negev after his soldiers pulled out of the Gaza Strip, described the brigade's attack in the Tel el-Hawa neighborhood in the southern section of the city of Gaza last Thursday. He said his soldiers fought between the high rise buildings while Hamas gunmen sniped at them, fired rocket propelled grenades and set off explosives. A Hamas security compound was located in the neighborhood, and the soldiers discovered weapons, war rooms and facilities for listening in on IDF communications.

The brigade commander also said he understood the soldiers' disappointment that the operation was halted before Hamas was completely defeated, and without the freeing of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. "That is what I expect from commanders and soldiers, that they want to advance. It is hard to argue with the feelings, but our mission was to seriously damage Hamas and we carried it out. We defeated Hamas in the brigade's sector. We need to say that clearly," he said.

His soldiers demonstrated a fighting spirit and courage in the battles, he added. "We took away their cellular phones, they didn't shower for two weeks and slept in crannies in Palestinian houses or on the ground, two or three hours a night; and nevertheless their motivation to continue to fight only increased," said Malka.

Thirty-three Givati soldiers were wounded in the fighting, most with light injuries. Most have been released from the hospital already. One of the soldiers, who was hit by an anti-tank weapon, is still in serious condition.