Netanyahu: Gaza terror groups were hit harder than at any time in recent years

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the IDF has hit Gaza’s terror groups hard in overnight airstrikes, and warns the groups against continuing their rocket attacks on Israeli towns and villages near the Gaza border.

“Over the past day, the IDF has responded with force to the [rocket] fire from the Gaza Strip by attacking dozens of targets belonging to terror groups,” Netanyahu says at a memorial service for the pre-state Jewish Etzel militia fighters killed on the Altalena ship in a beach battle with Haganah forces in 1948.

The attacks on Gazan terror groups were “the hardest hit we have dealt them in years,” the prime minister adds.

“The parties responsible for the escalation, inspired by Iran, are the Hamas regime [in Gaza], Islamic Jihad and other terror organizations,” he continues.

“I won’t offer any details about our plans because I don’t want the enemy to know what awaits it, but one thing has been made clear to it: when they test us, they pay for it immediately. If they continue to test us, it will cost them dearly.”