Lieberman: Israel must 'reoccupy' Gaza

Israel has pledged to increase its targeted attacks of Palestinians after ten homemade rockets landed in open areas in south Israel from the Gaza Strip yesterday.

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon said: “We will not let Islamic Jihad, or anybody else in Gaza, disrupt the lives of Israeli citizens. When it is not quiet in southern Israel, it will not be quiet in Gaza.” He pledged that “terrorists will regret their rocket fire”.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “If there is no quiet in our south, no quiet for the residents of Israel, there will be noise, lots of noise in Gaza.”

The escalation in attacks comes only a few days after the killing of seven Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip within two days.

Netanyahu linked the latest escalation of tensions with the Gaza Strip to Iran. “What we see is the support of Iran to terrorist organisations. It supplies them with rockets to launch at innocent Israeli citizens.” Therefore Iran must not own nuclear weapons, he said.

Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman said he believed the appropriate measure to be taken this time is the full occupation of the Gaza Strip.

“There is no way to avert a full occupation of the Gaza Strip; only then can we ensure that these images [firing rockets] do not recur,” he said. “We cannot ignore such an attack, a barrage of 50 rockets and mortar shells.”