JERUSALEM WORLD NEWS
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
A terrorist squad in the Gaza Strip prepares to fire rockets into southern Israel. (Flash 90)
JERUSALEM (JWN)—The IDF’s chief of General Staff, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, told members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that the escalation in rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip is leading toward large-scale retaliation.
Gantz made his remarks a day after Israel Air Force warplanes retaliated for another rocket attack against southern Israel by Gaza terrorists. The strike targeted a terrorist squad working on longer range missiles capable of hitting central Israel.
“The strike injured and inhibited the advancement of Islamic Jihad’s rocket production,” Gantz said, adding that “recent rounds of escalated violence and the harming of both lives and the daily routine of citizens of Israel’s South are leading to a reality in which the IDF will have to take significant, aggressive action in the Gaza Strip.”
Palestinian officials said a Hamas naval policeman was killed and seven others wounded in the air strike on their building in the northern Gaza Strip.
Gantz also addressed concerns over increased terrorist activity along Israel’s border with Egypt, noting that work on a border security fence has been speeded up.
“That is why the army is reevaluating its entire thinking in the South,” he said. “Today, 30 contractors are working simultaneously with 400 workers to erect the fence at an accelerated pace, with 70 kilometers already completed.” He said he expects the barrier to be completed by the end of next year.