TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned Gaza-based terror groups that Israel would take “crushing action” if the rocket and incendiary balloon attacks continue.
“I want to make this clear: We won’t accept any aggression from Gaza. Just a few weeks ago, we targeted the senior Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza, and I suggest that both Islamic Jihad and Hamas refresh their memories,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.
“I will not go into detail about all of our actions and plans for the media, but we are prepared to take devastating action against the terrorist organizations in Gaza. Our actions are very strong and they have not yet ended, to put it mildly,” he said.
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett also warned Hamas terror leaders that Israel would take “lethal action against them.”
“Israel does not want a war with Hamas in Gaza, but we are committed to the safety of the residents of the south. The irresponsible behavior of Hamas’s leadership is bringing us closer to taking lethal action against them,” Bennett said according to a translation by the Times of Israel of a Hebrew-language video released following a visit to the IDF headquarters near Gaza.
He added that any steps taken by Israel would be “unbearable” for Hamas.
“We won’t announce when or where. This action will be very different from those taken in the past. No one will be immune. Hamas faces a choice: choose life and economic prosperity, or choose terror and pay an unbearable price. Their actions will determine [which it will be].”
A day earlier, the defense minister said that the IAF would strike rocket factories and other Hamas weapons infrastructure in the Strip in response not only to rocket launches, but also to the launch of balloons and other airborne devices carrying explosives.
The weekend saw Gaze launch another round of rocket attacks and incendiary devices.
On Friday, the IDF’s Home Front Command released a children’s poem warning them against approaching the balloon bombs launched from Gaza.
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