Netanyahu threatens war as sirens continue to wail in southern Israel

The IDF struck multiple targets belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) on Monday after over 15 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel in second day of violence with the Iranian-backed terror group.

In a statement the Israeli military said that fighter jets and helicopters struck Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets across the Gaza Strip, including a military compound in Khan Younis, used for training and the storage of weapons and underground infrastructure.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that 12 of the 14 rockets launched in the span of half an hour were successfully intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. Other rockets fell near a playground in the college-town of Sderot as well in a yard of a residential home. There were no reports of physical injuries. The PIJ claimed responsibility for the rocket fire on Monday afternoon, saying that the launches were in response to the killing of two PIJ terrorists in Damascus. “In the Al-Quds Brigades, we confirm that we are ready to confront any aggression and let the enemy know that if it continues, we will respond with full force and might,” said the military wing of the terrorist group in a statement.

While the military struck only PIJ targets, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to target Hamas if the ruling group couldn’t stop the rocket fire.  

“If you don’t shoot them, we will shoot you. I’m talking about a war,” he said on Army Radio. “I only go to war as a last option but we have prepared something you can’t even imagine.”

His interview was interrupted by fresh sirens warning of incoming rockets.  

Following the rockets Netanyahu spoke with Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi and Ashkelon Mayor Tomer Glam, updating them on the security situation. Netanyahu also held a telephone security consultation with the heads of the security establishment.

The prime minister pointed to the attacks carried out by the IDF yesterday in Gaza and Syria, stressing that “many terrorists” were killed and terrorist infrastructure was struck. “We will act today as well,” said Netanyahu.

“Hamas and the PIJ need to understand, this will not continue as it is,” he stressed. “If they don’t stop the rocket fire completely, and I don’t mean for a day or two days, but completely, if there isn’t a complete end – we will be forced to activate the plan for a wide scale operation that we’ve prepared.”

Shortly before the rocket fire, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said that Israel is “preparing a plan to fundamentally change the situation in the Gaza Strip. I really understand the situation of the people of the South; they deserve peace and security.”

“We have eliminated at least six terrorists over the last day – not only in Gaza – but we have also made progress in hurting the source of the problem. But deterrence is not built in a moment,” he said during a conference in Jerusalem on Monday.

On Sunday night Israel carried out retaliatory airstrikes against PIJ targets in Syria and throughout the Gaza Strip following earlier rocket fire, killing at least six terror operatives. 

Amid fears of fresh violence, the IDF’s Home Front Command announced that roads, schools and the train line near the Gaza Strip would be closed.

The areas and roads that are blocked are all agricultural access routes west of Road 232. In both directions, Highway 4 will also be closed from the Zikim Junction to the intersection of Kibbutz Netiv Haasara, Road 34 from Yad Mordechai Junction to the Kibbutz Nir Am and Road 232 from Kibbutz Mefalsim to Kfar Gaza Junction.

In addition, the entrance to Kobe Hill in Sderot, the Black Arrow Memorial, the Bells Hill, the Nazeemite Hill and the Lone Horseshoe Hill will also be banned. Zikim Beach is closed to the public.

Israel Railways said in a statement that trains between Ashkelon and Beersheba would stop operating and the stations in Sderot, Netivot and Ofakim would be closed.

Hamas and PIJ had earlier threatened to avenge the killing of a terrorist by the IDF after he tried to plant explosives along the Gaza border fence early Sunday morning.

Graphic footage from the scene showed an IDF bulldozer driving at high speed toward a group of Palestinian youth throwing stones to prevent them from retreiving the body. Several people were seen carrying one individual, but the bulldozer was seen lifting the body of the deceased suspect from the ground before it returned to Israel along with an IDF Merkava tank which had been guarding it.

He was identified as 27-year-old Muhammed Ali al-Na’im, a commander in the Khan Younis area of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the Al-Quds Brigade.

In response to the ongoing criticism of how the IDF took the body, Bennett on Monday that his goal wasn’t to release terrorists until the bodies of the fallen IDF soldiers are returned to Israel.

“I have a goal – to bring the bodies of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul home, not by releasing murderers. I sent them both to fight in Protective Edge, and the way to get them back is by increasing the pain for Hamas. ”