Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this morning visited IDF Gaza Division HQ. He was accompanied by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi and GOC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant. They were briefed by GOC Gaza Division Brig.-Gen. Eyal Eisenberg and other senior officers on the progress of Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Olmert said that he was deeply impressed by the IDF's performance and achievements to date and added: "The bottom line – the test that will set the political leadership's decision is how to assure that the reality that the IDF is currently changing does not again control the south and that quiet prevails. To this we have not yet arrived and the IDF has not yet been asked to carry out everything necessary in order to do so; the decision is still before us."