News - Middle East: Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) chief Major General Hossein Salami says Operation al-Aqsa Storm showed that the collapse of Israel is much closer and easier than thought.

“There is 70 km from Gaza to Tel Aviv, 120 km from northern Palestine and southern Lebanon to Tel Aviv, and 40 km from the West Bank to Tel Aviv. The time for the collapse of this fake regime is short,” he told a group of Basij members in Qazvin Thursday.
“If like in Operation al-Aqsa Storm, the driving engine of the Palestinians starts moving again, the Zionist regime will be removed from the political geography of the world in 48 hours,” he said.
Gen. Salami said “few people thought the army and the security establishment of the Zionist regime is so close to collapse”.
“Operation al-Aqsa Storm showed the Zionists living in the occupied territories and America the fact that the collapse of the regime is much, much closer and easier than they imagine,” he added.
Gen. Salami said no Israeli sleeps peacefully at night anymore because the nightmare of another attack has become a constant companion of the occupiers who “are in a painful situation” after the Oct. 7 operation.
“Today, anxiety and confusion over the defeat of the Zionist regime can be seen in the faces of American officials more than ever, since there is no prospect of saving the fake Israeli regime, and its supporters cannot talk about its survival.”
The IRGC chief said to escape defeat, Israel and its supporters have chosen a very dangerous strategy that will never lead to victory.
The US, he said, can no longer endure the pressure of resistance forces on its overstretched forces in the region.
Over the past week, Gen. Salami also said, 2,000 Israeli soldiers have fled the West Bank and Gaza because they cannot continue the war.
“On the other hand, the damage of the war is at least 300 million dollars a day, and one out of every three jobs in Israel has been lost, and all hotels have turned into accommodation for their refugees.”
The situation in Palestine is quite the opposite, Gen. Salami said.
“The Gazans are patient, grateful, thoughtful and exceptional people who will surely achieve victory in the near future because of their perseverance,” he said.   
This is while “Israel and America are stuck in a quagmire in which they sink deeper, the more they struggle”, the IRGC chief added.
Gen. Salami touched on the strict censorship in the Israeli media about the regime’s losses in the Gaza war.
He said out of 1,600 tanks and personnel carriers brought to Gaza by Israel, 300 have been hit and hundreds of Israelis killed based on accurate information including aerial photos, wiretapping and other intelligence means as well as accurate field information.
“Today, all the news we hear is about Gaza and the Palestinians, but we don't hear or see anything about the turmoil in the cities of the Zionist regime, where the situation is much worse than what even we wish for. This fact forced them to agree to a ceasefire.”