Netanyahu warns Gaza terrorists: Don’t test us

Israeli air and ground forces launched a series of strikes against six terror targets in Gaza Strip on Tuesday, following the killing of an Israeli civilian in a border shooting attack.

Salah Abu Latif, 22, from the Bedouin city of Rahat, was killed by a Palestinian sniper while he was working to repair weather damage on the border fence near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, near the Israel-Gaza border. Latif sustained a gunshot wound to the chest and was airlifted to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where he died of his wounds.

In response, Israeli aircraft, tanks and infantry targeted several terror sites in Gaza Strip, including a weapons-manufacturing facility and terror infrastructure in southern Gaza, terror infrastructure in central Gaza and two rocket launching sites in northern Gaza. „Direct hits were confirmed,” the Israel Defense Forces said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was briefed on the incident while visiting the southern city of Sderot, said: „This is a very serious incident and we will not leave it unanswered. Our policy until now has been to act beforehand and to respond with force, and this is how we will act regarding this incident as well.”

„I suggest no one tests us. Anyone who has tried was struck down and anyone who will try will be struck down,” Netanyahu said.

An Israeli defense official said on Tuesday that the IDF „mounted a series of strikes and we are considering future measures. The goal is to contain the situation and not see it escalate further, but the IDF is on high alert and our response is and will be unequivocal.”

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon ordered the IDF to close the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main commercial crossing between Israel and Gaza, following the incident. „We take the terror attacks of the past few days very seriously. Hamas rules Gaza Strip and as such, we hold it responsible for the situation,” he said.

„We will not allow the disruption of normal life in southern Israel and we will react forcefully to any attempt to harm Israelis. I strongly recommend that Hamas not test our patience. If there is no peace in Israel, there will be no peace in Gaza Strip,” Ya’alon said.

The defense minister further stressed that the despite appearing as a wave of terror, the security incidents of the past few days were not the work of major terror groups. „The majority of these [terror attacks] is the work of lone terrorists, people who are influenced by the incitement and the hatred the Palestinian Authority is fostering against Israel,” he said.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, expressed hope that the quiet would be restored but said the military remained ready for any scenario. „We’re not looking for an escalation on the border with Gaza,” he said. „But we’re not willing to have shots fired at us from across the fence, killing our civilians.”

Palestinian officials reported numerous Israeli attacks in Gaza on Tuesday that caused a series of loud explosions across the area in rapid succession. Hamas Health Ministry official Ashraf al-Kidra said an airstrike in central Gaza killed a 3-year-old girl and wounded three relatives, including two young siblings. In all, 10 people were wounded, he said.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri condemned what he called „cowardly” Israeli attacks. „The occupation will not terrify the Palestinian people by these actions and will not punish our resistance and will not halt its readiness to respond to any attacks on Gaza,” he said.

Israeli defense officials reiterated that the recent string of security incidents does not constitute a third intifada. One official noted that, unlike the first two Palestinian uprisings in 1987 and 2000, which erupted in an instant, the current situation represents a „crawling uprising,” which is slowly brewing on the ground.

The defense establishment’s official position on the matter is that recent events are „atmosphere attacks,” and that they are not directed by any of the major terror groups based in Gaza Strip.

‘Israel will not yield to terror’

Latif was the first Israeli fatality in the area since Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012. Family members told Israel Hayom that Tuesday was his first day on the job. „A young man should not be killed for working [near the border]. This has nothing to do with being Jewish or Arab, it’s time to stop this war,” one of Latif’s relatives said.

Deputy Rahat Mayor Ata Abu-Madiam said Latif’s death was unnecessary and that he was „a victim of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

President Shimon Peres commented Tuesday on recent security events saying, „If Gaza wants peace and quiet it has to act accordingly, or it will suffer the consequences, tenfold. Gaza Strip is not occupied. If [its rulers] think they can make the world support them while causing more victims, they are wrong.”

„The gunfire from Gaza at Israel has pierced the special fabric of Israeli life and it has proven that Hamas and its proxies are determined to harm Israeli citizens, regardless of their faith,” Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said. „This phenomenon of trickling attacks must stop. Life in the Gaza vicinity communities must be safe and stable.”

Opposition Leader MK Isaac Herzog (Labor) noted, „This terror attack is another incident in the recent wave of terror attacks. Israel will not abide terror and I have every confidence that the IDF will respond.”

„It is obvious that the increased attempts to target Israelis stems from terror groups’ desire to impede the peace talks and promote the notion of a binational state within Israel. Israel will not yield to terror. We will not let it trump Israel’s interest,” Herzog said.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the bloodshed and called on all sides to preserve the November 2012 cease-fire that ended Operation Pillar of Defense. „The secretary-general rejects all actions targeting civilians and calls on all concerned to exert maximum restraint and to prevent another cycle of bloodshed,” his office said in a statement.

Meanwhile, three Israelis were injured Tuesday in two separate stoning incidents in Judea and Samaria: A 50-years-old bus driver suffered a mild head injury when Palestinian youths stoned his bus as it was traveling on Highway 5 near the Palestinian village of Az-Zawiya, en route from Ariel to central Israel.

The driver stopped at a nearby checkpoint, where he was treated for his injuries. One of the passengers on the bus suffered shock and was treated on site.

The driver of a private vehicle traveling in the same area sustained a shoulder injury when his vehicle was stoned. He made his way to the nearby Alei Zahav settlement, where he received medical treatment.

Security forces canvassed the area for suspects, but no arrests were made at the time.

Also on Tuesday, 41-year-old policeman Rami Ravid, who on Monday was stabbed in the back by a Palestinian terrorist near the town of Geva Binyamin, outside Jerusalem, regained consciousness.

Ravid was admitted to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in serious condition and underwent emergency surgery, during which one of his kidneys was removed. Doctors said that Ravid is now in stable condition.

The investigation into Monday’s incident is ongoing. Tuesday saw dozens of settlers rally at the Adam roundabout, near Geva Binyamin, in protest of the recent increase in terror attacks.