Israeli Occupation Threatens to Wage ‘Broad Military Campaign’ in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Tel Aviv is ready to wage a broad military campaign in Gaza if needed, after a two-day flareup of fighting which has left several people injured.

“All Israelis should know that if a comprehensive campaign is required, we will enter it strong and safe, and after we have exhausted all of the other possibilities,” Netanyahu said after visiting the Gaza frontier, where he met some Israeli commanders, according to Press TV.

 His comments came after two consecutive nights of heavy Israeli bombardments, which wounded several Palestinians but were responded to with a rocket attack from the enclave. The attack wounded seven Israelis in Mishmeret, an agricultural town north of Tel Aviv, on Monday, and forced Netanyahu to cut short his visit to the US.

Palestinian groups on Wednesday fired rockets into Israel in response to the regime’s airstrikes on several areas, including the town of Khan Yunis and the Rafah border crossing south of Gaza City.

The Israeli military has deployed artillery and tank brigades along the so-called buffer zone with Gaza.

Gazans plan mass rallies

In Gaza, organizers have announced plans for a massive protest on Saturday along the border to mark the first anniversary of weekly demonstrations at which Israeli forces have already killed more than 260 Palestinians.

Over 26,000 Palestinians have also sustained injuries ever since the anti-occupation protest rallies, known as the Great March of Return, began in the Gaza Strip on March 30, 2018.

The United Nations Human Rights Council said last week that Israeli troops may have committed war crimes by using excessive force against the protests.

The Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14 last year, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided that year with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied East al-Quds.

H.M