Thousands of Israeli settlers protest 'continuing threat from Gaza'

Thousands of settlers who live in settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip and their supporters held a protest against the results of the aggression on Gaza in the Yitzhak Rabin Square in Tel Aviv yesterday, Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.

The newspaper said the settlers are afraid to return to their homes amid what they called the continuing threat posed against them from Gaza either through the Hamas tunnels system or rocket fire.

The settlers accuse the government of neglecting their security and lives when it invited them last week to return to their homes in the south without guaranteeing their security.

The newspaper pointed out that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited the heads of regional councils in the south to a meeting at the Israeli army headquarters in HaKirya, Tel Aviv.

The paper said Netanyahu spoke about the results of the indirect talks in Cairo between Israel and the Palestinian factions and described the situation with Hamas as “extremely sensitive” and that Israel is trying to solve things through political action, but that all military options were still on the table.

The paper pointed out that several streets leading to Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square were closed for the protest.