GOC Army Headquarters Brig.-Gen. Itai Virob, who formerly commanded the IDF's Gaza Division, briefed students of the Yonatan pre-army preparatory program on the current situation in Gaza, telling them that houses affected in the strip "suffer our wrath in the next" confrontation.

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"Each passing day gets us farther away from the previous campaign, but closer to the next one. It's only a matter of time," he told the students at the Alumim kibbutz.

"We paid a heavy price in Operation Protective Edge. You don't have to be a great military man or an erstwhile intelligence operative to know that these fields will know the treads of our tanks, that infantrymen will run to the fence here and that the houses in Gaza not yet rehabilitated from the last campaign will suffer our wrath in the next one," the students were told.

"So how do we measure victory here?" he asked rhetorically. "Victory is not measured in tanks or conquests. It's measured in the height of the wheat and the amount of the crops cultivated in the potato, carrot or peanut fields. We're standing here, 800 meters from the border fences and Gaza's immense tunnel enterprises, and we're still here—that's victory."

Brig.-Gen. Virob speaking to students (Photo: Matan Tzuri)

In anticipation of mass protests expected to take place in Gaza this weekend, Ynet has learned the IDF will position soldiers inside the enclave's surrounding Gaza perimeter communities for the purpose of providing security.

Combat soldiers will be stationed at the entrance gates to communities deemed "border adjacent" and patrols in the vicinity will take place for a limited duration.

Preparations for the enormous march leaving the strip for the border fence are ongoing, with soldiers being stationed in at least five border communities in the coming days, but forces of a smaller magnitude will be stationed in additional communities on the perimeter.

The IDF is attempting to prevent the possibility of Palestinian protesters bypassing the army's forces and infiltrating communities near the fence this Friday. While the army has presumed the likelihood of that as being low, no risks will be taken and forces will be beefed up.

Forces were routinely stationed in Gaza border communities up until several years ago to provide security, but the army decided to withdraw them—raising public outcry among the local populace in the process.

IDF forces on the Gaza perimeter (Photo: Barel Efraim)

Gaza perimeter security officials told Ynet that soldiers will be carrying out guard duty at entrance gates and hold patrols. Despite increased alertness, however, the situation remains the same with no special instructions issued to residents.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin commented on the issue in a Ynet studio interview, saying that while all scnearios were being prepared for, Israel is hopeful that the march concludes without incident or the need to open fire.

"It's all up to the Palestinians themselves. They need to decide whether they liberate themselves from the yoke of Hamas's rule or prefer to invest resources pouring into the strip on procuring food and developing the health system," Levin said. "As long as the money transferred to Gaza is used for terror and tunnels, Palestinians are the ones subjecting themselves to these conditions."

Gaza journalist Sami Obeid said Monday that the march was not a Hamas but a popular initiative. "It's the initiative of residents sick of living without power, water, food or work. There's nothing to tell them to keep living, so they reached the conclusion the solution is to come to the fence," he told Ynet.

"The people of Gaza, or most of them, want Israel to rule the strip rather than Hamas or Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority. But the conflict has no resolution—only two people living together," he concluded.