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Israeli Ministers want tougher response to flying firebombs

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Firebombs attached to kites were launched from Gaza yesterday causing 12 serious fires in southern Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “I do not intend to go into detail about what we are planning vis-à-vis Gaza. The intensity will be stepped up as necessary. We are prepared for any scenario and our enemies would do well to understand this.”

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Palestinians in Gaza launching firebombs attached to kites should be “treated like a terrorist in possession of a weapon that can kill people”. “Just imagine living in fear that while you sleep at night a fire kite might hit your home and set it on fire – that’s the reality these residents are facing”.

Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said Israel must not accept the continuous threat of missiles and flying firebombs from Gaza. “The situation in the Gaza periphery mustn’t come to be like prosthesis — uncomfortable, but something you get used to living with. I have confidence in the IDF and I am sure that it will know how to provide the suitable response, just as it has provided solutions to far more complex problems,” he said.

Ha’aretz security analyst Amos Harel believes that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are attempting to change the dynamic on the Gaza border. He wrote: “From now on, they said, every Israeli air strike will be met with rocket and mortar fire into the Negev”.

According to Harel, Israel remains quiet on the efforts of the Trump administration’s efforts to achieve a political settlement in Gaza. “The Trump administration is dealing with this in addition to looking to present the president’s peace initiative. The pace of violent events in Gaza, however, is overtaking the discussions on rehabilitating Gaza’s infrastructure and may deteriorate into war,” he warned.