JERUSALEM, July 4 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that, Israel is preparing to wage a broad military campaign in the Gaza Strip, if needed, amidst tensions with the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Netanyahu, who is also Israel’s defence minister, chaired a security cabinet meeting, at the army’s Gaza Division Headquarters outside Gaza, before meeting there with local and regional council heads from the area.
“Our policy is clear,” he said after the meeting. “We want to restore the calm, but at the same time, we are also prepared for a wide-ranging military campaign, if it proves necessary,” he said.
“These are my instructions to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces),” he added.
Israel and Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian movement that runs Gaza, have reportedly reached initial understandings, as part of Egypt’s efforts to broker a long-term cease-fire between the two.
Both sides accuse each other of violating the understandings, with Israel occasionally imposing and lifting restrictions on the permitted fishing zone and fuel supply to Gaza.
Palestinians in Gaza have been protesting against the 12-year-old crippling blockade, imposed by Israel on the coastal enclave.
Israel’s last full-fledged military campaign in Gaza took place in the summer of 2014, claiming the lives of 2,251 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, compared to only 71 people in Israel, mostly soldiers.– NNN-MA’AN
