Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Palestinian terror group Hamas is a greater threat than in the past, but added that it “fully understands” the messages Israel sends to it.
“We are preparing for every scenario,” Netanyahu told local activists at a closed ceremony at the Sdot Negev regional council near the Gaza border.
“We are dealing with a theological junta that has taken control of two million people,” Netanyahu said, referring to Hamas, the terror group which controls the Strip and openly seeks Israel’s destruction.
“They numbered 3,000 people before the wretched, mistaken and tragic disengagement, while now they are 65,000 armed people,” he said, taking a jab at the 2005 evacuation by former premier Ariel Sharon of all Israeli settlements in Gaza, which also saw the Jewish state end its military presence in the Strip.
Hawkish Israelis have long argued that the Disengagement Plan harmed the country’s security by enabling Hamas to seize control of Gaza and fire thousands of rockets at Israeli communities.
“They are committed to our destruction and therefore are not partners for conversation in the diplomatic sense, but they fully understand our other messages and we won’t let them continue (with their violence),” the prime minister warned.
“We also won’t let them dream about carrying out their plan. The first thing I’m committed to is security,” he said, adding that he will allow “no rockets, no mortars and no [incendiary] balloons.”
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s office said Tuesday evening that Israel would renew the supply of Qatari-purchased fuel into Gaza starting Wednesday, following relative calm this week along the border.
Israel reopened the crossings into Gaza on Sunday, allowing people and goods in and out of the coastal enclave. Liberman’s office said at the time that a decision was yet to be made whether to allow fuel into the Strip.
The past weekend saw a significant decrease in the amount of violence along the Gaza security fence compared to previous weeks, both in terms of the number of people participating in border riots and the intensity of the clashes.
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