Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman visited Thursday the southern city of Sderot, where he attempted to ease tensions following several days in which Gaza based terrorist groups fired rockets into Israel.
‘We can all be calm. We know exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it,’ Liberman said. ‘In any case, I have instructed the IDF to be prepared for any scenario.”
Liberman’s comments came at the end of a tense week on the Gazan front that saw 16 rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel, as well as retaliatory strikes by the IDF.
Liberman said the recent rocket attacks have nothing to do with a lack of Israeli deterrence, but rather that they are a result of infighting between battling factions within Gaza, most notably Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
Despite the fact that the rockets fired at Israel recently have been the doing of the Islamic Jihad, Israel has made it clear that it holds Hamas accountable for any aggression coming out of Gaza.
‘I hope that the people of Gaza will press their leadership to invest all their energy and funds into improving of the economy in Gaza, instead of tunnel digging, rocket manufacturing and attacking Israel,’ said Liberman, adding that ‘[the way they are operating is] putting the entire population of Gaza at risk.’