At the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said terrorists would be “hit hard” in response to attacks on Israeli soldiers on civilians over the weekend. “The world needs to understand that Israel won’t just sit by… we’re ready to heighten our response,” Netanyahu said. “The IDF is acting, and will act, with force in Gaza.”
In an interview with Army Radio on Sunday, Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya’alon said “There’s no doubt that in the past two weeks we’ve been witnessing an intensification, which Hamas is responsible for,” Ya’alon said. “We are not going to let this stand… if need be, the IDF will know, with the instruction of the government, of course, what to do to keep exacting such a price that these provocations won’t pay off for them.”
Ya’alon recalled that targeted killings of terror leaders had been known to secure periods of quiet at the border.
When asked about entering Gaza in the style of the successful mission Operation Cast Lead, Ya’alon replied that “everything is being weighed and will be weighed.”
On Sunday morning, Palestinian terrorists at least nine rockets into southern Israel, a total of over 40 since Saturday.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak also promised to respond to Hamas’s latest wave of aggression. “We will not let these incidents at the border go unanswered,” said Barak.