IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot met a group of soon-to-be conscripts at a high school in Bat Yam on Wednesday.

When asked by a student about the proper response to attacks similar to those seen during the past few months, the army chief replied: “The IDF doesn’t need to get swept up in clichéd statements like ‘Kill or be killed’ or ‘Whoever comes at you with scissors needs to be killed’.”

“The tools that are at the soldiers’ disposal are sufficient,” the chief of staff said.

In recent months, over 30 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians who have committed car-rammings, stabbings, and shootings in what is being called “the lone-wolf intifada” or “the knives intifada.”

Immediate steps by Israeli security forces in neutralizing the attackers have generated controversy, as some have argued that police and soldiers use excessive force in subduing the assailants.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom has perhaps been the most vocal critic of Israel’s response to Palestinian terrorism.

Wallstrom has called for an investigation of Israeli “extrajudicial killings,” prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to respond that such statements were “outrageous, immoral, unjust and just wrong.”

“I don’t want to see a soldier empty a magazine [to shoot] a young girl with scissors,” Eisenkot said.

On November 23, two Palestinian teenage girls were shot by security officers after stabbing a 70-year-old Arab man in the head with scissors in downtown Jerusalem.

One of the girls was killed and the other critically wounded.

Black and white CCTV footage of the attack released to the media shows the two female Palestinian assailants wildly stabbing the elderly Palestinian man in the head and then charge a police officer, who shot them.

Both terrorists ignored repeated warnings from the officer to drop their weapons.

“These days, you can find a knife in any kitchen and household,” he said. “The aim of terrorism is to sow fear and horror amongst the public. Terrorism succeeds when it prevents citizens of living their normal routine.”

The visit to the school, during which the army chief chatted with students as well as teachers and administrators from neighboring schools throughout Bat Yam, was aimed at preparing future enlistees to compulsory military service.

Eisenkot also held court on topics including the threats facing Israel and the readiness of the IDF in combating those threats.

He said that while the IDF has been strengthening its capabilities against conventional threats, its troops are devoting daily efforts to thwarting terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria.

Eisenkot said that the army is also making preparations for future confrontations with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“These are the challenges that the country has faced since its birth, and these challenges will be here in the years to come,” the IDF chief said.