Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has warned the Islamic Hamas movement that the Jewish state will not tolerate “any more violence” from the besieged Gaza Strip.
Speaking at a memorial ceremony to commemorate the fallen soldiers during Israel’s 2014 military campaign in Gaza, Bennett said on Sunday that his country “has lost its patience”, reports Xinhua news agency
He said that Hamas, which controls the besieged Palestinian enclav, will “have to get used to a different Israeli approach, one of initiative, decisiveness, and suspicion”.
“Our enemies must understand the rules: we will not tolerate violence, we will not tolerate sporadic fire and we will not tolerate renegades,” Bennett said.
His remarks came about a week after Bennett was sworn in as the country’s new Prime Minister and amid renewed tensions with Gaza.
Last week, Israel carried out two separate series of airstrikes targeting Hamas sites in Gaza after incendiary balloons were sent into southern Israel amid tensions in the annexed East Jerusalem.
On May 21, a shaky ceasefire ended an 11-day war that claimed the lives of 256 Palestinians in Gaza and 13 people in Israel.