PM says any escalation will meet ‘crushing response,’ IDF ready to act on more than one front

In primetime televised remarks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touts Israel’s overnight operation in Gaza, saying the three senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad members who were killed were responsible for rocket fire from the Strip and directing attacks in the West Bank.
Referring to the deaths of non-combatants, Netanyahu says Israel does everything to avoid harming civilians, while Palestinian terrorists target them.
“That’s the difference between us and them,” he says.
He also warns Islamic Jihad and other Gaza terror organizations: “Any escalation on your part will be met with a crushing response on our part.”
He says that Israel is in the midst of what could be a protracted campaign, and says that when it was decided upon — “a week ago,” when Islamic Jihad fired over 100 projectiles at Israel — he “told the IDF to prepare for any scenario” including the possibility of conflict “on more than one front.”
Speaking after Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says “the campaign isn’t over.”
“The security establishment is ready for any scenario,” he adds.
He confirms that the operation was decided upon in the wake of last Tuesday’s rocket fire — when Islamic Jihad “fired indiscriminately at Israeli citizens” in what he called a direct challenge to Israel’s right to its land.
He specifies that Jihad Ghanem, one of three terror chiefs killed this morning, orchestrated the 2004 killings of Tali Hautel, who was eight months pregnant, and her four daughters, aged two to eleven, near their home in Gaza’s Gush Katif settlement bloc. Terrorists opened fire on the vehicle she was driving, and then shot them dead at close range.
Gallant says “all the goals” of the operation have been achieved — “the Palestinian Islamic Jihad leadership in Gaza was slain,” he says.
But he adds that Israel is likely to sustain “rocket fire in areas near and far, with considerable power.”
Along with its operations in Gaza, the IDF is capable of “replicating and activating” operations “in other areas and against other threats.”