Netanyahu says Gaza op will not end until goals achieved

Netanyahu meets with the heads of regional councils on the Gaza border — Hof Ashkelon, Sha’ar Hanegev, and Sdot Negev — before the demonstration in Tel Aviv in solidarity with the south.

The PM promises that the fighting in Gaza will not end until Israel achieves its goals of restoring quiet and security to the south for an extended period, while seriously damaging the “terror infrastructure” in Gaza.

Netanyahu says Israel embarked on Operation Protective Edge after the rocket fire on the south renewed. “We responded with strength even to the steady drip of rockets,” he says.

He also notes that Israel hit 160 “terror targets” over the weekend when rockets were again fired at Israel.

Netanyahu emphasizes that the government approved the establishment of a student village in Sderot at the cost of NIS 50 million, and in 2015 and 2016 the government will invest NIS 417 million in improving the south’s home front defenses.

Alon Schuster, head of Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, says that he feels there has been a change, and that Israel is not going to return to the pattern of rockets of the last 13 years. “If they don’t agree to this change,” he says, “then it may be that there will be a big war here, after which the situation will change.”