Israel on Tuesday marked five years since Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip in 2014.
In a ceremony attended by Israeli political and military leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation was a "clear moral campaign of self-defense."
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In July 2014, Israel launched a military operation against Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip in response to the launch of hundreds of rockets at Israel's south and the construction of cross-border terror tunnels dug from the southern Palestinian territory.
Noting the current situation with Gaza, Netanyahu said Israel is preparing for another operation.
"We are trying to reach calm, but are preparing to embark on a campaign – a large-scale military operation that will deliver a blow against Hamas and Islamic Jihad," adding that Israel is preparing to strike the Palestinian militants like they never have before.
The 50-day conflict in 2014 between the IDF and Palestinian terrorist militants left dozens of Israelis and thousands of Palestinians dead.
One of Israel's main objectives during the operation was the destruction of terror tunnels crossing from Gaza into Israeli territory.
By the end of the operation, Israel said it had destroyed 38 tunnels, many of which crossed into Israel and were intended for Hamas attacks against civilian targets.
The 2014 war killed 2,251 Palestinians, about half of whom fighters for various terror factions. On the Israeli side, 74 people were killed, six of whom civilians.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS.
