By Ernest Nutsugah
Accra, Jan 22, GNA – Mr. Roey Gilad, Ambassador of Israel to Ghana, has stated that recovery from the Israel-Hamas war would “take a long time,” but affirmed that his country would emerge “stronger.”
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, he said that although Hamas had not surrendered, the group was no longer considered “an army of terror.”
“If we were down on the 7th of October 2023, I believe now we are having the upper hand… Hamas was beating strongly…Hamas is still on the ground, but we believe their ability to be an army of terror is not there anymore,” he said.
Acknowledging the effect of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Mr Gilad noted that the healing process would be “long and painful.”
“A part of our body was injured on the 7th of October [2023] and it will take us a long time to heal…Eventually we will heal but the process is going to be long and painful.
“The strength of the tree is the trunk…sometimes the branches can be broken…The Israeli tree is strong…some of the branches have been broken but the roots and the trunk of the tree are still strong.
“It will take us some time to grow up the branches that have been broken and it is going to be a painful process but at the end of the day, Israel is going to be back strong, stable prosperous and mighty as we were on the 6th of October [2023]” he said.
After months of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, a recent ceasefire deal has reportedly resulted in the release of three women hostages from Gaza and the freeing of 90 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
“Our aim at the end of the military campaign in Gaza is to release all our people that have been hijacked [by Hamas] and also to make sure that we do not face any more threat from Gaza,” Mr Gilad said.
He described Iran as a “strong and dangerous” influence in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and emphasized that: “Unless we are strong to deter our enemies, I don’t think we are going to see any peace in our time.”
“From being a factor which was destabilising the Middle East, acting day in and day out not only against Israel but all the moderate regimes in the middle East, now they [Iran] are on the defence.
“It remains to be seen how they are going to become more aggressive mainly on the nuclear front…If they learn the lesson and they pullback, Israel has no problem with them…
“We are based in the Middle East for a long time, and we are looking for peace on all the fronts, unfortunately history taught us to be suspicious,” he said.
The Ambassador added that the weakening of Hezbollah by Israeli forces had provided Lebanon with an opportunity to “reclaim its sovereignty,” especially now that the country has a new President.
GNA