Conflict with Gaza 'inevitable': Israel's Lieberman

JERUSALEM

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday that another confrontation with Hamas-run Gaza was “inevitable”.

“There is no avoiding another confrontation with Hamas; we must attack them with great force,” Lieberman told Israeli public radio.

“Neither [the provision of] fuel nor [the disbursement of public-sector] salaries will calm the situation [in Gaza],” he said.

“Hamas leaders say they want the blockade [of the Gaza Strip] lifted, but this is not possible,” he asserted.

Lieberman added, however, that Israel’s defense establishment would “give a chance” to ongoing Egypt-brokered truce talks with Hamas, “so they don’t say I'm dragging Israel into conflict because of my personal agenda”.

At dawn Thursday, Israeli fighter jets bombed three sites in Gaza affiliated with the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing.

Earlier the same day, the Israeli army claimed that a rocket was fired from Gaza into Israeli territory.

The latest escalations come amid a fresh round of shuttle diplomacy by Egyptian officials between Gaza and Ramallah aimed at hammering out a Hamas-Israel truce and fostering reconciliation between Hamas and rival Palestinian faction Fatah.