Israeli minister warns new conflict with Hamas

Israel is likely to enter a new conflict with Hamas over the coming summer in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Construction and Housing Minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Sunday.

Speaking in an interview with the Israeli army radio Galei Zahal, Gallant urged the Israeli troops to get ready for such a conflict, at a time in which Hamas is digging new tunnels and developing missiles.

“We need to be prepared for a conflict with Hamas this summer,” the member of the security cabinet and the former IDF general warned, as quoted by The Jerusalem Post, stressing that “this is a sensitive time and we need to be vigilant in order to prevent it from happening.”

Gallant’s predictions came two weeks after the Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, said that Hamas is in an “open war” with Israel.

In summer 2014 conflict, Hamas used the underground tunnels to launch deadly attacks into the Israeli territory.