FM: Any ceasefire is preparation for next war

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman says any ceasefire with Hamas is mere preparation for the next round of violence.

“Israel must go all the way in Gaza. The world must give us its full backing to go all the way,” he says at a press conference.

Liberman says a truce will only allow Hamas to replenish its stock and build more rockets.

“An end result to the operation would see the IDF control Gaza,” he says “Given Hamas’s blatant rejection [of the Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire], we must make a clear decision. All this hesitation works against us. We must go all the way. There is no alternative,” he says.

Liberman says that the current situation in the Middle East, in which Hezbollah is bogged down in Syria, Iran is preoccupied with the P5+1 nuclear talks, as well as Syria and Iraq, allows Israel to undertake such an operation. “I hope the [security] cabinet takes this decision,” he says.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman addresses the press on Wednesday, July 15, 2014 (screen capture: Channel 2)