Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday that the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip was intended to “change the equation” in the region, whereby Hamas fires at Israel and Israel responds with restraint.
She defended Israel’s incursion into the Hamas-ruled coastal territory as a form of “legitimate self-defense,” adding that Israel has no choice but to retaliate when attacked.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak earlier Monday defended Israel’s incursion into the Gaza Strip, saying any nation seeking to survive would have taken the same form of action.
“Hamas has so far sustained a very heavy blow from us, but we have yet to achieve our objective and therefore the operation continues,” Barak said.
“The fundamental objective is to change the reality of security for the south,” Barak said, referring to Israeli towns that have come under continuous Palestinian rocket attack from Gaza.
“We are striving for a new reality in which there won’t be activity from Gaza against Israeli civilians or our soldiers, a situation which will dramatically change the state of smuggling and in which quiet will prevail in the south,” Barak added.
Source: Haaretz
Filed under: MidEast, Gaza, Gaza raids, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Israel, Operation Cast Lead, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, Tzipi Livni
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