Halevi detailed the battle: “The way combat is conducted today is a crime against our remarkable soldiers. The video shows:
1. Hamas terrorists shoot from a house near IDF soldiers to lure them in—a ‘pull operation.’
2. Yahalom’s heroic fighters, among our best, follow the current, flawed protocol to clear the house and are drawn inside.
3. They send a drone to scan the house, which enters a tunnel shaft.
4. An Oketz unit dog, trained to detect explosives or attack terrorists, is sent next.”
“The terrorists, fully familiar with IDF protocols, set up a camera (with working Wi-Fi), descended into a tunnel network, evading the drone and dog. They then detonated a hidden explosive at the most lethal moment.”
Halevi, a member of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, added: “How terrible! How unnecessary! This method of house-to-house and tunnel clearing is a crime against our soldiers. I urge IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, the General Staff, and the cabinet to change the rules of engagement: clearing only after a prolonged siege!”
He noted the incident’s severity, as it occurred in an area already surrounded, between the Morag and Philadelphi corridors. “Why send our soldiers there? Cut off their resources, fuel, water, food, solar power, and let Hamas starve until they emerge exhausted to their deaths.”
“After 20 months of failed warfare, enough! Hundreds of soldiers have died, thousands injured. We cannot childishly cling to the same combat methods, thinking minor technological tweaks are enough. The enemy learns these too.”
