IDF will protect Israelis celebrating Hanukkah, won’t allow enemies to restore their power, vows chief of staff Zamir

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will protect Israelis celebrating the Hanukkah festival while combating Israel’s enemies across all frontiers, Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir vowed at a candle lighting ceremony on Sunday.

Visiting troops of the 91st Division at Israel’s northern border, Zamir participated in the lighting of the first candle “of Hanukkah, the holiday of light and strength,” the general said.

“Here too, we must remember that our mission will not be complete until the return of the last fallen hostage, SFC Ran Gvili. We will continue to operate to protect the residents of the north and enable them to celebrate Hanukkah safely,” Zamir vowed.

Before joining the soldiers for the candle lighting ceremony, Zamir received a security briefing, including the three strikes against Hezbollah operatives on Sunday. During discussions with commanders, he "emphasized the importance of defending the civilians, especially during the holiday period."

“We will not allow the enemy to build up power, and we will respond to any violation - our pattern of operation is clear. Yesterday, we eliminated Ra’ad Sa’ad, a senior operative in the Hamas military wing, who led and carried out terrorist activity for more than thirty years and was one of the orchestrators of the October 7th attack,” he said.

Hamas on Monday acknowledged the death of Sa’ad, one of the last senior military leaders left in the Gaza Strip.

“His involvement in the attempts to reestablish and rebuild Hamas’ capabilities constituted a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement. Within a short period of time, we eliminated Hezbollah’s Chief of Staff and the head of Hamas’ production headquarters,” he said, highlighting Israel’s new strategy of preemptive attacks on enemies building up their strength.

“Our policy is clear, in all sectors and here as well in Lebanon, we will continue to operate and thwart emerging threats,” said Zamir.

Throughout Sunday, the IDF announced it had killed three more Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon.

One had operated agents “within Lebanon’s security systems,” and “acted to suppress criticism by opponents of Hezbollah in Lebanon,” the IDF said. Another had worked to restore the terror group's infrastructure, and the third was a local representative of Hezbollah in the Jbeil area, who was "responsible for communication between the terror organization and the residents of the area regarding financial and military subjects" and also "operated to seize private assets for terror use."

The military noted Sunday that it killed around 40 Hezbollah terrorists in about 30 different areas across southern Lebanon since the start of October.

“These terrorists are among more than 380 terrorists who have been eliminated since the ceasefire and understandings came into effect, during which the Hezbollah terrorist organization violated the agreement more than 1,900 times. The terrorists who were eliminated took part in terrorist activity in the area of southern Lebanon, including the reestablishment of terrorist infrastructure sites, weapons smuggling, and liaison between the residents of the area and the Hezbollah headquarters,” it said.

Zamir stressed Israel would not allow “proxy organizations and terror armies to establish themselves along our borders - we will act to thwart them in advance.”

“IDF troops are deployed in forward defense and positioned at key operational control points. Our troops are establishing security lines across all arenas in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza.”