The truce in Gaza saw a new deterioration on Saturday, with at least 24 people killed as a result of Israeli strikes, according to civil defense in the sector. Israel announced that its raids “come in response to a Hamas attack,” confirming the elimination of 5 of the movement’s cadres.
The Gaza Strip has been witnessing an escalation in Israeli raids since Wednesday, after Israel accused Hamas of violating the truce agreement that began implementation on October 10, after two years of war. The Israeli army said in a statement on Saturday that it “struck Hamas targets after a gunman fired at its soldiers and crossed the yellow line,” behind which the army withdrew under the ceasefire agreement.
During a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu stated that “Hamas does not stop violating the ceasefire, and we are acting accordingly, independent of anyone.” He added, “There have been several attempts on their part to penetrate our territories behind the yellow line and try to harm our soldiers. We thwarted them with tremendous force, responded to them, and they paid a very heavy price. We eliminated a large number of militants, as well as others we captured from the Rafah tunnels.”
Netanyahu stressed that “Everything that is said about the need to obtain approval from one party or another is pure lies. We operate independently of any party.” He explained that “The army takes immediate action to automatically thwart attacks, while the responses pass through the Minister of Defense and eventually reach me, and we make the decision independently of any factor. Israel is responsible for its security.”
He also affirmed that Israel “will continue to do everything necessary to prevent Hezbollah from re-imposing its threat on us.” He added, “We continue to strike militants on multiple fronts. At the end of this week, the army attacked Lebanon, and we will continue to do everything necessary to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its ability to threaten us.”
