Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas and Islamic Jihad that they will ‘pay’ if they ‘continue testing’ Israel at a speech given in Jerusalem on Wednesday, after what he described as the ‘severest blow’ that the country had delivered on its adversaries in years.
“Since yesterday the IDF has strongly retaliated against the firing from the Gaza Strip and has hit dozens of terrorist targets,” he said. “When they test us, they pay immediately. And if they continue testing us, they will pay clearly.”
The Prime Minister’s words come one day after the Israeli military responded to a wave of mortar attacks from within the Gaza strip with airstrikes, hitting targets including two military sites near Deir al-Balah.
According to an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) statement, the Israeli military attacked at least 25 targets allegedly belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.