Two Israeli ministers have warned that Israel's patience with Hamas leaders is wearing thin and that any future Israeli military campaign is likely to include the targeted assassination of terrorist leaders and potentially seizing control of the Gaza Strip.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, a member of the decision-making Diplomatic-Security Cabinet, said Tuesday that "a shift from a defensive to an offensive policy against Hamas means the targeted assassinations of terrorist leaders who are members of Hamas' military wing."
He added that Israel is "closer than ever to seizing control of the Gaza Strip."
"This means taking and maintaining control of Gaza until we eliminate its terrorist infrastructure," Erdan said. "We're closer than ever – since the devastating [2005] disengagement – to having no other choice but to take control over parts or all of Gaza."
Fellow cabinet member Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Gallant told the audience that after the latest round of violence in Gaza, the worst since 2014, Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar "is at a dramatic crossroads and has to rethink his course."
"They [Hamas] have to decide whether they want to fight us or preserve the calm," he said.
Gallant, formerly the IDF's GOC Southern Command, stressed that "war is the last resort. There will be a [military] campaign in Gaza, but we will be the ones to determine the circumstances and the timing."
He said that "Sinwar is living on borrowed time. He won't end his life in a retirement home."
