Violence flare-up with Gaza "not over," Israeli Defense Minister warns

PanARMENIAN.Net
PanARMENIAN.Net - Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Tuesday, November 13 that a flare-up in violence with Gaza was "not over," after Palestinian militants fired two rockets and Israel carried out air strikes overnight, AFP reported.
The violence that began on Saturday appeared to have slowed considerably, with Gaza militants firing two rockets into Israel on Tuesday, hours after they said they would commit to a ceasefire if the Jewish state did the same.
Israeli warplanes carried out air strikes against several targets overnight, which caused no injuries, although medics in Gaza said Tuesday a seventh person had died in the violence, succumbing to wounds he sustained on Saturday.
Palestinian eyewitnesses on Tuesday afternoon reported new shelling in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, where AFP reporters saw damage to a house. They also reported an Israeli air strike elsewhere in northern Gaza, although the military said it had no information on either incident.
Barak, meeting Israeli military chiefs, warned that the current round of confrontations was ongoing, adding that Israel would decide how and when to respond to the rocket fire.
"It is certainly not over and we will decide how and when to act if necessary," he said in remarks communicated by his office.
"We intend to reinforce the deterrence -- and strengthen it -- so that we are able to operate along the length of the border fence in a way that will ensure the security of all our soldiers who are serving around the Gaza Strip," he said.
On Monday night, Israeli planes struck three sites in Gaza, which the military identified as a weapons facility and two rocket launch sites.
And the following morning, the army said militants fired two rockets into Israel, causing no injuries, with local media reporting one of them was a longer-range Grad rocket, which landed near the coastal town of Ashdod.