37 killed as Israel bombs Gaza, Hamas fires rockets
Gaza/Jerusalem: At least 37 Palestinians have been killed as the Israeli military on Wednesday stepped up its offensive pounding Hamas targets in Gaza while almost the whole of Israel came under rocket fire from Palestinian militants. The Israeli strikes in Gaza have destroyed weapons, terror infrastructure, command centres, Hamas institutions, government buildings and terrorists’ homes, Ya’alon claimed.
“We are killing terrorists of different ranks, and this operation will persist and intensify,” he said adding, “For our part, this doesn’t have to be a short battle. We will continue hitting Hamas and other terrorist groups hard.”
Moshe Ya’alon said that Israel’s miltary campaign in the Gaza Strip against Hamas will expand in the next few days, vowing that “it will exact a huge price”.
Meanwhile, the military wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, has presented five conditions in order to return to a ceasefire with Israel.
The Islamist faction’s spokesman, Abu Obeida, has said that Israel must stop its offensive on Gaza Strip, cease all airstrikes and commit to the ceasefire agreement signed in 2012.
He also demanded the release of all prisoners in the Gilad Shalit exchange deal who were re-arrested, and to stop interfering in the new unity government.
Obeida stressed that that al-Qassam did not want to reach this stage of violence, threatening that if Israel continued to target homes, al-Qassam will “extend the circle of its targets”.
