'All options are on the table': IDF not ruling out ground offensive into Gaza against Hamas

Israel is not ruling out a ground offensive into Gaza against Hamas, an international spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says.

In an interview airing Tuesday, Maj. (Res) Ben Wahlhaus told CTV’s Power Play host Vassy Kapelos that if the IDF receives operational directives from the Israeli government to launch a ground offensive, “that’s the mission that (they’ll) carry out.”

“All options are on the table at the moment,” Wahlhaus said. “Our goal, our priority, is to safeguard our civilians and to do that we need to stop Hamas’ attacks, which are ongoing.”

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Now into its fourth day, the fighting sparked by Canadian-designated terrorist group Hamas' incursion into Israel and Israeli reprisal strikes has killed and stranded thousands, including Canadian citizens.

Wahlhaus said Israeli forces have secured the country’s border and have been in the process of going house-to-house in dozens of towns and cities to ensure no Hamas operatives remain in Israel.

“However long it takes to rid Hamas of its capabilities and its attacks against Israel, that’s what we’ll do,” he said, adding that more than 300,000 reserve soldiers have been called on to join in those efforts.

Wahlhaus said Israeli forces will “make every effort” to avoid further civilian casualties in Gaza, but that Hamas is creating a “difficult operation” by “purposefully” putting their own civilians in harm’s way.

“We have no choice but to stop Hamas’ military capabilities,” Wahlhaus said. “It cannot be a situation where hundreds of terrorists are streaming across your border and massacring your civilian population, with thousands of rockets fired indiscriminately into population centres and killing civilians, that is not a situation that anyone can let happen.”

“Our fight is not with the civilian population,” he added. “Our fight is with Hamas. But as I said, their war is a war on civilians, and it's on their own too.”

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has voiced support for Israel, and said at a solidarity gathering in Ottawa Monday that Canada “unequivocally” condemns Hamas’ attacks, echoing comments from several other world leaders.

“We stand with Israel and reaffirm our support for Israel's right to defend itself, in accordance with international law,” he said.

According to a statement from Canada’s Department of National Defence on Tuesday, officials “do not anticipate” a need for Canada to assist Israel militarily.

When asked if that may change the longer fighting continues, Wahlhaus said Israel will continue to defend its civilians, and he expects the situation will be drawn out.

“This will be a protracted fight,” Wahlhaus said. “Hamas does not make it easy for us in Gaza by deliberately hiding behind the civilian population, by turning a territory that it's governed for 15 years into a terrorist stronghold, full of tunnels and weapons storage sites and mosques and homes and hospitals.”

Wahlhaus said there will be “a lot of questions that need to be answered” in the coming weeks and months about how Hamas’ forces were able to carry out such an extensive attack, considering the level of sophistication of Israel’s defence and intelligence systems.

But he added the current focus is on defending civilians and stopping further infiltration attempts by Hamas.

“They want this to be a protracted fight,” Wahlhaus said. “They want more civilians to suffer, but we are not afraid of that, and we will make sure that the job is done.”

Maj. (Res) Ben Wahlhaus’s full interview with Kapelos is in the video at the top of this article.