Israeli Defence Minister: Security cabinet refuses to direct 'severe blow' at Gaza

Israel’s Defence Minister, Avigdor Lieberman said the majority of ministers in Israel’s Security Cabinet are opposed to a “severe blow” against the besieged Gaza Strip.

Lieberman added during a meeting of his Yisrael Beiteinu party held Monday afternoon that “there is no way to reach a truce agreement with Hamas without inflicting a severe blow to the Gaza Strip”.

The Israeli security cabinet met on Sunday afternoon to discuss the escalation in the Gaza Strip over the weekend and decided to pursue “an iron fist policy on the one hand while giving a chance to the efforts of Egypt and the UN special coordinator the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov to reach a truce” Israeli media reported.

Read: Israel evades demands to end the Gaza protests and reach a truce

The Israeli forces killed last night three Palestinian children to the east of Khan Younes in the southern besieged Gaza Strip under the pretext of attempting to sabotage the border fence.

Earlier on Friday, six Palestinian peaceful demonstrators were killed and dozens were injured during the Marches of Return.

Meanwhile, thousands of Israelis from the Gaza envelope area demonstrated on Sunday evening against what they called “the deteriorating security situation” and raised signs reading that “the lives of the envelope residents are not cheaper than the lives of Tel Aviv residents”.