Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that the Israel Army Chief of Staff, Dan Halutz, said during a session with the Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that he would not recommend an invasion to the Gaza Strip in an effort to counter the firing of homemade shells at Israel settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
Halutz added that the the economic pressures practiced against the Hamas-led Palestinian government, will fail to bring its downfall, adding that external pressures on Hamas would boost its public support in the Palestinian street.
Referring to the internal clashes between Fateh and Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip, Halutz said that he does not believe that this fighting will reach the level of civil war, despite the growing chaos and tension in the territories.
Meanwhile, a senior Israeli military official at the “Operations Branch” told the committee that the capability of the Palestinians in Gaza “to produce military equipment” has risen.
The official added that Palestinian fighters have conducted numerous instances of arms smuggling by sea and through tunnels “despite efforts to stop arms trafficking”.
