“Whatever it takes.” These were the words used this Sunday by Benjamin Netanyahu. In his cabinet meeting, the Israeli Prime Minister emphasized his desire to prevent the strengthening of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“We continue to attack terrorism on several fronts,” he said while Israeli strikes left at least 21 people dead the day before according to the local Civil Defense, a first aid organization operating under Hamas authority. Israel, for its part, said it responded to the Hamas attack and killed five of its officials.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry, for its part, reported one death on Saturday in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon. And the Israeli army announced on Sunday that it had carried out a raid targeting a senior Hezbollah executive in a Beirut suburb.
“This week, the Israeli army attacked Lebanon and we will continue to do whatever is necessary to prevent Hezbollah from building up its capacity to threaten us again. This is also what we are doing in the Gaza Strip. Since the ceasefire came into force, Hamas has continued to violate it and we are acting accordingly,” said Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hamas executive killed, Israel says
“There were several attempts on their part (Hamas, Editor’s Note.) to penetrate our territory beyond the yellow line and try to harm our soldiers. We thwarted them with great force and we also reacted and made people pay a very heavy price,” added Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli army and the Shin Bet (internal security service) announced in a joint statement that they had killed Alaa Haddadeh in one of the attacks carried out on Saturday “in response to the ceasefire violation”.
The man, described as a Hamas “supply and equipment manager,” “operated to transfer weapons from Hamas headquarters to battalion and field commanders,” the army said.
