Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s released a statement to the media following rocket fire from Gaza.
“Citizens of Israel, we are still in the midst of a campaign. At this very moment, our forces are fiercely attacking the Gaza Strip and exacting a heavy price from the terrorist organizations.
I would like to reiterate: Whoever harms us, whoever sends terrorists against us, will pay the price,” Netanyahu stated.
“This principle, that whoever attacks us and tries to attack us will pay the price, was significantly strengthened today in Operation Shield and Arrow. The development of new technological capabilities, and the parallel development of new operational capabilities, in combination with our initiative, is creating a new equation,” he added.
The prime minister also spoke directly to those terrorists seeking to harm Israelis.
“We say to the terrorists and whoever dispatches terrorists: We see you everywhere. You cannot hide. We will choose the time and place to attack you. We will choose, not you; not just in response, but in times of calm – the choice is ours,” he said.
“Up to now, we have inflicted upon Islamic Jihad in Gaza the hardest blow in its history. Within mere seconds, two seconds, in the middle of the night, at three separate locations, we simultaneously eliminated the terrorist organization’s leaders. We hit its anti-tank units, its arsenals and its rocket production facilities,” the prime minister added.
Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has retaliated with rockets at Israel that have largely been unsuccessful, though some damage has occurred near the Gaza border.
“In response to our actions, Islamic Jihad has launched rockets at Israel. A quarter of the rockets, maybe close to a third, fell on their territory. The decisive majority of the rockets were intercepted by our defensive systems. I would also like to commend here the Defense Ministry and the security establishment for also developing the new systems that were successfully brought into action today,” he said.
“Fortunately, as of now, no Israeli citizen has been wounded. I ask that all Israeli citizens continue following the directives of IDF Home Front Command. You are doing this so well and it really does save lives,” he added. “The campaign is not yet over. We will continue to update you. We entered this together. We will get through this together and we will win together.”