'IDF may need to re-enter Gaza soon,' colonel says

Paratroopers commander says rocket fire on Israel’s south may require an incursion

The IDF may soon need to launch another ground incursion into Gaza, Col. Amir Baram told Channel 2 News on Monday.

“I think there won’t be a choice… we’ll need to enter Gaza soon,” Baram, the commander of the Paratroopers Brigade, said in the interview.

Baram said that, in his opinion, the IDF may need to “enter Gaza again” and that its fighters may “have to go in, house by house” in order to maintain deterrence in the Strip.

Deterrence is strong now, Baram explained. “The other side [Gaza’s Hamas leadership] knows it [a ground incursion] isn’t in their interest, but as an army, we must be ready for a fight within a built-up area, or in a crowded area,” he said.

Since Israel’s last ground incursion into Gaza in Operation Cast Lead in the winter of 2008-2009, southern communities have faced persistent but usually non-fatal rocket attacks from the Strip.

At the start of October, Gaza-based Palestinian terrorists fired more than 30 rockets and mortars — with some Israeli media outlets reporting over 50 rockets — into southern Israel within a 24-hour span. The air force responded to the upsurge in rocket fire by targeting and killing Gaza terrorist leaders.