Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman: Next Conflict With Hamas Matter of When, Not If

TEL AVIV – Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned that Israel’s next round of conflict with the Hamas terror group was a “matter of when, not if” ahead of a meeting between senior defense officials to discuss easing restrictions imposed on the Gaza Strip following mortar and rocket fire. 

“I am sure that we will do what we must how we must,” Liberman said.

Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas on Tuesday were said to be on the verge of reaching a ceasefire agreement, an Israeli official told the Los Angeles Times. 

Israel did not confirm the report.

The two sides were reportedly engaged in Egypt- and UN-brokered efforts to come to a long-term truce. On Thursday, Hamas declared a ceasefire, which it said was negotiated by Egypt and the UN.

The unilateral ceasefire, declared by Hamas but not confirmed by Israel, came in the wake of two intense days of fighting that saw Gaza terrorists firing over 180 rockets, injuring at least seven people and causing damage to private and commercial property as well as infrastructure throughout the southern region.

Moments after a Hamas official announced the ceasefire, Israel was hit with a fresh barrage of rockets from the Strip.

On Tuesday, four arson balloons launched from the coastal enclave were found in Kibbutz Erez in southern Israel but failed to spark a blaze.

According to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity, Liberman and defense officials discussed fully reopening the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Gaza and extending the fishing zone of the coast, as long as there were no rockets, incendiary devices or other forms of terror emanating from the Strip.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that Israel will continue to do whatever is necessary to combat the terrorism coming from the Gaza Strip and will accept nothing less than a blanket ceasefire.

Also on Sunday, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel could oust Hamas from the Strip.

“Toppling Hamas is an option, and we are closer to it than ever,” the Likud minister told the Kan public broadcaster.

The following day Channel 10 news reported that Netanyahu had met with President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi in Egypt to discuss the terms of the ceasefire.

Israeli officials have said that “quiet will be met by quiet” and Israel is not seeking to enter another conflict with Hamas.

“Hamas understands very well what it has lost in the past few months; it can’t ignore it,” a senior IDF officer told the Haaretz newspaper.

In a separate report Tuesday, it emerged that Hamas was cynically building up fake accounts on Instagram of beautiful women to lure IDF soldiers with the hope of gathering intelligence on IDF operations.

“This is a network in which the culture of sharing is paramount and where everything revolves around pictures and ‘see me,’” said Lt.-Col. A., the Head of Information Security Policies in the IDF’s Information Security Department.