WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The former deputy chief of staff of the Zionist regime’s army has warned that the regime’s troops are at the minimum level of readiness to confront various threats it may face.
The comments by Major General Eyal Zamir came weeks after a confrontation with Palestinian resistance groups, which brought life to a halt in much of the Israeli-occupied territories.
Speaking in a handover ceremony at the military’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, Zamir said there are significant quantitative and qualitative gaps in the occupying regime’s army’s readiness for a new conflict, and the forces are in strong need of support in order to face various threats, Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
“We may have to wage a difficult, protracted, trans-regional war both on the frontier and on the battlefield itself,” said Zamir, adding that the Israeli regime needs to ensure the military’s combat preparedness.
He said the latest war with Gaza took place while Hezbollah “was calm,” adding that the regime knew the Lebanese resistance movement had more firepower, which, he said, was ten times more than that of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement.

Warning Against Gaza Closure

Meanwhile, a rights advocacy group has warned that the Zionist regime’s closure of crossings and its crippling restrictions on the movement of goods and individuals will have serious repercussions for the already dire humanitarian and economic situation in the besieged Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the al-Mezan Center for Human Rights cautioned that the dangerous and accelerating deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the blockaded enclave would certainly trigger a new round of violent confrontation with the Zionist regime.
The rights group described these circumstances in Gaza as “unbearable,” the Palestinian Information Center reported on Monday.
The rights group also emphasized the necessity for the international community to immediately address the current situation in Gaza before it becomes more costly and difficult to deal with.
It called on the international community “to take urgent and effective action to stop the escalating Israeli violations and end the siege of the Gaza Strip, as it constitutes a collective punishment for Palestinians there and creates endless economic and social problems.”
Al-Mezan said the Zionist regime continued to tighten its siege on Gaza 52 days after the 11-day war of May was over.
Zionist regime authorities “continue to prevent the entry of all kinds of raw materials and merchandise, except for detergents, nylon rolls, and paper,” the rights group said. “They also prevent the entry of all types of raw materials, which are necessary for the industrial facilities.”