Netanyahu Says Ready to Expand Gaza Operation, Arab League to Hold Emergency Meeting Saturday
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Israel sent a "clear message" to Hamas through the killing of its top military commander and is ready to widen its operation in Gaza if necessary, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Wednesday.
"Today we sent a clear message to Hamas and other terrorist organizations, and if it becomes necessary we are prepared to expand the operation," he said in a televised address.
Speaking hours after a major wave of air strikes pounded militant targets in the Gaza Strip, killing top Hamas commander Ahmed Jaabari and six other people, Netanyahu vowed that Israel would not tolerate any further rocket fire on its territory.
"Hamas and the terror organizations have chosen to escalate their attacks on the citizens of Israel in recent days. We will not tolerate a situation in which Israeli citizens are threatened by rocket fire," he said after consultations with his security cabinet.
The strikes came after five days of rising tensions along the Gaza border which began on Saturday when Palestinian militants fired an anti-tank rocket at an army jeep, sparking Israeli fire which killed seven and caused militants to fire more than 120 rockets over the border.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the strike was only the beginning of an operation whose goals were to strengthen Israel's deterrence, damage militant groups' rocket-firing capabilities and stamp out attacks on southern Israel.
"Israel doesn't want a war but the Hamas provocation of recent weeks, with recurring, frequent rounds of mortar and rockets fired at southern Israel, an explosive tunnel that was activated.. and anti-tank fire at a jeep in Israel, forced us to act sharply and decisively," Barak said.
"We are at the beginning, not end of this action," he said, stressing the need to be "on high alert in Israel and West Bank ... It won't be a quick fix.. but we'll reach goals we set for this operation."
He urged regional leaders to act "judiciously and with a cool head to promote stability and return of quiet, and not to be dragged to their deterioration."
Shortly after his remarks, Egypt, which has a 1979 peace treaty with Israel, announced it was recalling its ambassador to the Jewish state in the wake of the Gaza air strikes.
Meanwhile, the Arab League's deputy chief announced that foreign ministers will convene an emergency meeting on Saturday to respond to Israeli air strikes in Gaza.
"The meeting will be convened on Saturday, based on requests from Egypt and Palestine," Ahmed Ben Hilli told AFP.
The league announced its decision after Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi recalled the ambassador to Israel following Wednesday's Gaza events.
14 November 2012, 22:16
34
Nasrallah should see what is happening around him. Those in the Persian axis are being taken down. ASSad will be done soon enough, Hamas is going to be ravaged. From a tactical point of view this eliminates two potential fronts for the Israeli's. It also leaves the Hezz exposed.
14 November 2012, 22:37
02
Bisaraha, alla ysse3edna, 3al tal3 wel nezel, 3am nekol hawa kilna!
14 November 2012, 23:18
22
Wa3 wa3 wa3 I am mowaten, iam BS thrower ,... Wa3 wa3 I am scared my beloved turban rat is next
15 November 2012, 00:07
43
The Arab League is holding ermergency meeting ,no meetings get your weapons Fight fire with fire..
15 November 2012, 07:06
22
You should know about cowardice. Your beloved leader has hardly left his underground rat hole for the last 4 years.
You forget that the last time Israel bombed Lebanon was only because your terrorist friends kidnapped two Israeli soldiers from Israeli territory and then murdered them.
15 November 2012, 19:04
00
Shab, if you dont care that at least 3 children so far have been bombed to death in the past hours by the same beasts that stole their land and turned them in to refugees, then there must be something terribly wrong with you. Pregnant women injured, children injured and orphaned, old people injured, more homes destroyed in the biggest prison on earth yet you say "who cares".. Only a psychopath would say such a thing. Honestly.
15 November 2012, 03:37
12
I am lost killer_instinct.
Are you saying the Muslim ummah (especially iran) are supported by all these atheist ummahs (russia and south america .... they believe in jesus you know that right?).
Also did you know that your comment is posted in English (language of the atheists) and using a computer invented by the atheists. And even the weapon you are threatening others with is also made by the atheists. Take it easy man, try being human for once you might like it.
15 November 2012, 04:38
21
Hey killer_instinct. I see by your name you are just another Hezz killer thug. You are the garbage that is increasingly hated in Lebanon especially by the Shia. Why are so many Hezz members caught as spies for Israel? Because they are hated from within. Also don't forget the monster that is being created next door in Syria that will hate the Hezz forever.
You are barking the mad barking of a dog.....but you are screwed and you know it. The big question is will Israel hit you and your arms supplies be cut off by land? Or will the FSA defeat ASSad and then seek Shia and Alawite revenge in Syria and Lebanon?
Pay your electricity bill and turn in your weapons before you die like the dog that you are.
15 November 2012, 06:48
12
I agree with you killer in the sense that there is a consensus among regular commentators here that the resistance and killer are like two cheeks of the same A$$. However, I don't have any issue personally with the resistance in Palestine or Syria.
I feel bad even associating a pretend resistance like the axis of Farci with the Palestinian cause, especially in Gaza.
Killer instinct, your only resistance is against laws banning inbreeding.
15 November 2012, 10:24
12
This is naetanyaho throwing a life line to Assad. Hizbustan does not give a shit about dead sunis either in Syria or Palestine, it is all rhetoric, their true enemy is the sunis and the revolution in Syria stripped hizbustan naked. Israel/US are okay with hizbustan, otherwise why is hizbustan not a terrorist organization in europe?? how did they let them form a government in lebanon?? how did they trust UNIFEL around them!? because the true common enemy are the suni arabs who are the vast majority. The US sends drones to chase fundamentalist sunis all the way to somalia!!! there are thousands of hizbustanis in michigan US, you dont see anyone bothering them.
