From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Netanyahu says attempts at calm rebuffed by Hamas, campaign to end rocket fire may take time
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the campaign against terror groups in Gaza would continue until rocket fire from the Strip ceases, and accuses Hamas of rebuffing all recent attempts at restoring quiet.
“The State of Israel is in the middle of a campaign to bring back quiet and security for our citizens,” Netanyahu says. “We won’t tolerate rocket fire on our cities and towns. So I have ordered a dramatic widening of the IDF operation against the Hamas terrorists and against the terrorists of all other terror groups in the Gaza Strip.”
The escalation was ordered “only after all attempts to bring back quiet went unanswered, and Hamas chose escalation,” he says. “We do not go joyfully to battle, but the security of our citizens and our children comes first. We will do everything it takes so that the quiet that existed here in recent years will continue.”
IDF operations “are directed at Hamas terrorists, not against innocent civilians,” he adds, “while Hamas intentionally hides behind Palestinian civilians, so it bears the responsibility when they are accidentally hurt.”
Netanyahu calls on Israeli citizens “to listen to instructions from the [IDF’s] Home Front Command. [The instructions] save lives. I call on you to show resilience, because this operation could take some time. From the perspective of the terror organizations, all parts of the State of Israel are a single front, and all citizens of the State of Israel are one target. We must therefore stand as one – unified and certain in the justice of our cause. We are acting resolutely and with determination to return the quiet, and will continue to do so until the quiet returns, so that our citizens and children can live in safety.”
