service chief, Yuval Diskin, stated on Tuesday that the government must
prepare for a "military option" in Gaza, and claimed that Palestinian
resistance factions had smuggled 30 tons of explosives into the Gaza
Strip since the IDF pulled out of Gaza last year.
The statements of Diskin came during a meeting with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and defense Committee. “All options are awful”, he stated, “But Israel must choose the least awful option”.
According to Diskin, armed factions managed to smuggle 30 tons of explosives and large quantities of arms and cash.
He added that the Popular Resistance Committees pose “greater threats than Hamas, because “its members are more extreme religious fundamentalists”, according to Diskin.
Also, Diskin added that Hamas is not as powerful as it was before the elections because it is facing difficulties in running the Palestinian Authority as a result of the siege and embargo.
Meanwhile, Likud member of Knesset Yuval Steinitz, who used to head the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that the Israeli army should carry a broad military offensive in the Gaza Strip adding that “this is the only way to keep Gaza from becoming another southern Lebanon.
He added that the army must carry “Operation Defensive Shield II”, similar to Operation Defensive Shield carried in 2002, and should reoccupy the Philadelphi Route, the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Shin Bet Calls for Broad Offensive into Gaza
Caysha Cay- IMEMC & Agencies, 15:35
In response to one Qassam rocket that landed near a children’s
dormitory on a Western Negev kibbutz Tuesday, Yuval Diskin, Shin Bet
security service chief said that Israel must prepare to respond with a
broad military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The rocket caused damage but no injuries; apparently it was enough to justify another full scale military invasion of Gaza, in addition to Operation Summer Rains and Operation Autumn Clouds, both of which have left over 300 dead and a thousand injured.
Sourced from Haaretz
