Israel will fortify all homes and public buildings within a seven-kilometer distance from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday while visiting an Iron Dome battery near Ashkelon.
Netanyahu said he decided to accept the recommendation of the defense and home front defense ministries to widen the radius around Gaza that will receive full protection against rocket and mortar fire.
Up until now this protective umbrella was spread around communities within a 4.5 km radius from Gaza. Communities from 4.5 – 7 kilometers from Gaza had their schools fortified with safe rooms, and were also covered by Iron Dome batteries, but their homes were not fortified.
Now, Netanyahu said, those communities will be fully protected. "We did not choose this escalation and did not initiate it," Netanyahu said of the current round of violence near the Gaza Strip. "But if they continue we are prepared for a much wider and deeper action. In any event we will continue with our preventive actions. Anyone who attacks Israeli citizens need to know that he will pay."
The IDF will take all necessary action to return the quiet to the South, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday following a barrage of rockets and mortar shells that rained down on southern Israel overnight.
In an interview with Army Radio, the defense minister said that the IDF was exploring all options in search of a solution to silence the escalation. He indicated, however, that a full-scale military operation was unlikely at this time.
Barak also dismissed the idea of talking to Hamas, saying that it is an enemy organization that Israel cannot talk to.
Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz held an evaluation of the latest security situation and weighed the military's response options to the Palestinian rocket barrage on Wednesday morning.
Ahead of the evaluation, Gantz toured southern Israel together with the commanders of Military Intelligence and the IDF's Southern Command.
Meretz leader Zahava Gal-On said in a statement on Wednesday the public will not by the spin of Operation Cast Lead 2.
Commenting in response to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's remarks, Gal-on said: "War is the refuge of the prime minister and defense minister for election purposes. The good news is that this time the public will not buy the spin of Operation Cast Lead 2."
Gal-On expressed solidarity with the suffering of the residents of the south "once again facing a barrage of rockets."
Gal-on also warned that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak will attempt to escalate the situation in the south for election purposes, commenting: "It seems the election campaign of Barak and Netanyahu will not just amount to propaganda and billboards, but also burning zone in Gaza."
Meanwhile, Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday: "The war in the South proves that Israel cannot take risks in the West Bank."
Speaking at a meeting with the Kenyan Vice President Dr. Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka in Jerusalem, Rivlin asserted that "it is our duty is to defend ourselves."
The Kenyan VP visited Ramallah as a part of his tour of the Middle East and passed on a message from Mahmoud Abbas, saying the PA president is willing to sign a peace agreement with Israel.
"We need actions, not nice words from the Palestinians," Rivlin replied. "Unfortunately, the Palestinians have yet to prove they are able to take political or military responsibility that would allow the citizens of Israel and their children to live their lives in peace and security," he added.
Meretz primary candidate and Tel Aviv City Councilwoman Tamar Zandberg held a protest in front of Barak's house on Wednesday night, chanting "we will not kill or die for the Independence Party."
The protesters also held signs reading "this is not war, this is propaganda."