Israel’s defense minister warned that he wants Hamas to have a “painful spring” and placed high odds of a major military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
A day after terrorists in Gaza indiscriminately fired more than 100 rockets into southern Israel, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett told the Jerusalem Post in an interview published Tuesday that plans have been drafted to launch a broad military campaign against militant groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
“I have come to the conclusion that there is a 95% chance it is inevitable that we will have to launch a large campaign to restart Gaza,” Naftali said Tuesday. “We are ready, and the plans have been formulated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the military.”
“We will give one very last chance to the terrorists to maintain quiet. But I don’t believe them,” he continued. “They are liars, murderers, and we are going to have to act. It’s always a last resort to go to war. But this time, it will be on our terms, with our timing, and with a very clear vision of the day after.”
On Monday, Netanyahu also threatened war with PIJ and Hamas, which controls Gaza, a Palestinian enclave to the south of Israel.
Rocket attacks in southern Israel began on Sunday after a video circulated on social media that showed an Israeli army bulldozer dragging the body of a Palestinian man. Authorities in Israel said the man who was killed was part of PIJ and was attempting to plant an improvised explosive device along a border fence.
About 90% of the rockets fired were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, although the flare-up was the largest since last November, when the commander of the PIJ’s military wing, Baha Abu al Ata, was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces.
Bennet on Tuesday cryptically warned that a future military campaign in Gaza would be “completely different” from those in the past.
“I want to give hope to the people of the South to bring them quiet,” he said.
In addition to financing Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran has funneled money into Gaza to groups like the PIJ. After President Trump unveiled a proposed peace plan for the region, which was soundly rejected by Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza, Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country would continue to finance the groups in opposition to Israel.
