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World Jewish News
Barak: Gaza incidents expected, quiet will come to South
02.02.2009
"The quiet in the South is a result of the serious blow dealt to Hamas in [Operation Cast Lead in] Gaza and even if takes a little more time and a few more shots are fired, this is the nature of events of this kind," Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio on Monday morning following IAF strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday evening.
Barak hinted Israel might embark on another operation. "If we have to, we will hit Hamas again."
The defense minister added that Israel was interested in Egyptian cooperation in the battle to halt smuggling into Gaza through tunnels.
Late Sunday evening, the IAF struck rocket-launching areas in northern Gaza, as well as a Hamas security building in central Gaza and six smuggling tunnels on the border.
According to many Palestinians, Israel had sent them messages by phone warning them in advance of an imminent IAF strike. After the attack, there were no reports of casualties.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised a "harsh" and "disproportionate" response to the renewal of rocket fire into Israel when he addressed the cabinet on Sunday, shortly after a rocket hit near a kindergarten in the Eshkol region.
"The cabinet's position from the outset was that if firing continues against residents of the South, there will be a sharp Israeli response that would be disproportional vis-á-vis the firing," he said.
Palestinian Authority and Hamas leaders, meanwhile, were said to be close to reaching a Gaza cease-fire deal in talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo.
Yaakov Katz, Tovah Lazaroff, and Brenda Gazzar contributed to this report.
Источник: JPost
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