Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday during a tour of an Iron Dome battery in the Ashdod area that the attacks on Gaza are far from over, and may in fact lead to war if quiet is not restored.
“Yesterday we attacked on several fronts,” Netanyahu said. “We attacked in Syria. We attacked in Gaza. We are continuing to strike now with jets, tanks and helicopters.
“We will continue to strike until quiet is restored,” Netanyahu underlined. “I have a message for the heads of the terrorist organizations,” he added. “If quiet is not restored – you are next in line.”
During a security consultation held Monday at a central location in the country with ISA Director Nadav Argaman, National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi (the latter two participated via conference call), the prime minister ordered the continuation of action against the terrorist organizations in Gaza.
The attack in Syria on Sunday night killed two fighters from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organization, Salim Salim and Siyad Mansour, the group confirmed. Four members of Iranian militias were also killed, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Last November 12, 2019, the Israel Defense Forces assassinated the PIJ second-in-command, Baha Abu al-Ata while he was sleeping with his wife in a pre-dawn surgical strike carried out in Gaza. Ata had consistently undermined efforts by Egypt to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization.
Netanyahu told Radio Jerusalem earlier in the day on Monday that a “large scale military operation” in Gaza may be unavoidable. “War is a last resort, but there may be no escape from it,” he said. “We’ve prepared a radically different campaign.”