Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel hit Palestinian terrorist groups hard in Gaza, but says the country is preparing for another round of confrontations in the coastal enclave.
“In the past two days, we have hit Hamas and Islamic Jihad with great force,” he says in a statement released a few hours after an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement apparently went into effect.
“We struck more than 350 targets, hit terrorist operatives and their leader, and destroyed terrorist infrastructure.”
Smoke billows from a targeted neighbourhood in Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike on the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave on May 5, 2019. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP)
Still, “the campaign is not over, it requires patience and deliberation,” he says. “We are preparing to continue.”
There was no official ceasefire announcement from either side, but the intense fighting over the past two days appeared to come to a sudden halt early this morning and residents on both sides are going back to their daily routines.
Netanyahu has traditionally been cautious in his handling of Gaza for fear of sparking an open-ended war with no clear endgame, but he is facing criticism from members of his own party and prospective coalition partners for not going further to quash the Gaza terror groups.
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