JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Liberman, said Israel should retake the Gaza Strip in the current military operation.
“Israel must go all the way in Gaza. The world must give us its full backing to go all the way,” Liberman said Tuesday afternoon at a news conference at the Knesset. “All this hesitation works against us.
“A cease-fire is a tacit agreement that Hamas can continue to build up its power,” he said of the failed attempt by Egypt to broker a cease-fire.
Israel’s security Cabinet on Tuesday morning agreed to the proposed cease-fire and halted its operation known as Protective Edge. But after six hours and more than 40 rockets fired throughout Israel, the military said it would resume its operation.
Liberman said the end result of Protective Edge, in its eighth day, “would see the IDF control Gaza.”
The foreign minister’s Yisrael Beiteinu party severed its connection with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud a week ago over disagreement on how to handle the rocket fire from Gaza.
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