Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Monday launched a series of punitive steps against the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas into accepting Israel’s conditions and release its prisoners.
Measures included the closure of the Abu Salem crossing, which is the commercial and economic lifeline of the sector, but Netanyahu has talked about other secret steps.
In a statement on Monday, Netanyahu said: “I have long said that I do not intend to publish in advance all the details regarding the steps we are taking or planning, but in agreement with the defense minister, we will act with a heavy hand against the Hamas regime in the Strip.”
Military sources said on Monday that Israel was preventing the entry of humanitarian aid from international bodies sent to alleviate the human suffering in the Gaza Strip, which has been besieged for years. The occupation authorities also closed the offices of Al Quds television station in the city, claiming that it was promoting Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
The sources added that Lieberman was behind the adoption of radical steps against Gaza in order to force Hamas officials to return the bodies of the detained soldiers in exchange for any easing of the siege imposed on the Strip.
Military sources also said that the invasion of the Gaza Strip was very probable, but noted that such decision was faced by the fear that the eruption of war in the south might open the door for a military confrontation in the north.
The Israeli army, which has completed training on a scenario of a double war, prefers not to run a war on two fronts at once.
