Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the IDF will continue to strike its enemies, including through covert missions, after a weekend flareup of violence in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu spoke at his weekly Cabinet meeting, a day after Israel struck a series of sites linked to Gaza's Hamas rulers in response to a late-night barrage of rocket fire. Although no one claimed responsibility for the rockets, Israel holds Hamas responsible for all attacks coming out of the territory.
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Palestinian sources, however, told the Al-Quds newspaper on Saturday that Palestinian Islamic Jihad was behind the latest rocket fire at Israel, which they said was in response to Israeli violations of understandings between the sides.
Channel 12 reported that Israeli defense officials also believe PIJ was behind the rocket barrage. According to assessments, PIJ's decision to launch the attack is connected to an ongoing power struggle between Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Netanyahu said Israel is in a "very sensitive" security environment to its north, south and east.
He said: "We will continue to act in all fronts for the security of Israel, both through open means and also through secret means, at sea, in the air and on the ground."
The overriding sentiment among cabinet ministers is that the threats of Iranian entrenchment in Syria and the danger of a conflagration with Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are still more significant and pressing and that Israel should do what it can to avoid armed conflict in Gaza.
Additionally, the concern in Israel that toppling Hamas in a wide-scale ground campaign would create a power vacuum in Gaza – still weighs heavily on decision-makers.
Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) addressed the escalation on Israel's southern border and said he estimates a military operation could be forced upon the Israeli government.
"We hoped to reach an arrangement before a large operation, but the way it seems now, we might be forced to launch a large military operation and only then reach an understanding," Steinitz told Army Radio after Sunday's cabinet meeting.
"If there will be no choice and we will want to remove the Hamas regime, it will have to be a ground [operation], and that has its price," Steinitz added.
Habayit Hayehudi Chairman and Education Minister Rafi Peretz told Channel 12 news: "I am a resident of the Gaza periphery communities... This [situation] cannot continue. The heads of Hamas will need to pay the price for this."
Parts of this article were originally published by i24NEWS.
