The Israeli prime minister and the leader of the Hamas terrorist group staked out tough positions Monday, making de-escalation on the Israel-Gaza Strip border in the near future unlikely.
Since late March, 26 Palestinians have been killed in border riots instigated by Hamas.
Israel has accused the terrorist group of using the protests as a cover for carrying out attacks. The Israeli military said Hamas operatives have also been using the riots to try and infiltrate the border, saying terrorists have also tried to damage the security fence and plant explosives near it.
The IDF maintains that Hamas, as the sovereign ruler of the coastal enclave, is responsible for all that transpires there.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday visited the southern city of Sderot and said Israel's top priority is its security.
"We have one clear and simple rule and we seek to express it constantly: If someone tries to attack you – rise up and attack him," Netanyahu said. "We will not allow, here on the Gaza border, them [Hamas] to hurt us. We will hurt them."
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, for his part, renewed a pledge Monday that the marches would pave the way for a return of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel.
"We will return to Palestine, our villages and Jerusalem," Haniyeh said in a speech at one of five protest camps set up along the border.
He stopped short of threatening a mass breach of the border, though another Hamas leader has done so in recent speeches.
On Sunday, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court warned that Israel and Hamas may both be violating international law at the Gaza fence.
Fatou Bensouda warned that "any new alleged crime committed in the context of the situation in Palestine may be subjected to my Office's scrutiny."
She warned Gaza's rulers that "the use of civilian presence for the purpose of shielding military activities" could be a war crime, and at the same time, said Israel's "violence against civilians – in a situation such as one prevailing in Gaza" may also constitute a war crime.
