ISRAEL: Israel says it is ready to keep up Gaza war, even after tunnels are destroyed

Record ID: 398621

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israel says it is ready to keep up Gaza war, even after tunnels are destroyed
  • Date: 2nd August 2014
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (AUGUST 2, 2014) (REUTERS) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, WALKING TO LECTERN (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, SAYING: "The IDF is working and will continue to work until completion of our mission, after the completion of the action against the tunnels. The IDF will prepare to act for our continued action, accord
  • Embargoed: 17th August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAG9CUCWROIMX7W4FDMRBMYCO6
  • Story Text: Israel is prepared to continue fighting Palestinian guerrillas in the Gaza Strip after the army completes its primary mission of destroying cross-border tunnels from the territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday (August 2).
    "The IDF is working and will continue to work until completion of our mission, after the completion of the action against the tunnels. The IDF will prepare to act for our continued action, according to our defence needs and only according to our defence needs, until we reach our objective restoring security to you, Israel's citizens," Netanyahu said in a televised speech.
    When questioned by a reporter about Israel's relationship with the United States, Netanyahu said: "The United States has given us tremendous support, material support with Iron Dome, not only the one that we received, but now both houses of Congress with the support of the Administration have offered to... agreed to the request that I made for an additional 225 million dollars for additional Iron Dome protection. That is a lot of support and we deeply appreciate it and that is the substance of our relationship. That's the tone of our relationship, which gets to the question of these reports that are not only of my conversation with Ambassador Shapiro but also with the President that are full of incorrections, full of distortions and are wrong both in tone and in substance. The right tone, the right substance is the support that we are getting as we speak from the United States of America, and I appreciate it deeply."
    Shelling exchanges continued earlier on Saturday, pushing the Gaza death toll given by Palestinian officials up to 1,675, most of them civilians. Israel has confirmed that 63 soldiers have died in combat, while Palestinian shelling has also killed three civilians in Israel.
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