ISRAEL-MIDEAST-GAZA/NETANYAHU CABINET Israeli PM Netanyahu warns Palestinians in Gaza to avoid militants

Record ID: 398681

  • Title: ISRAEL-MIDEAST-GAZA/NETANYAHU CABINET Israeli PM Netanyahu warns Palestinians in Gaza to avoid militants
  • Date: 24th August 2014
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (AUGUST 24, 2014) (REUTERS) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU ENTERING ROOM AND SITTING AT TABLE WITH CABINET MEMBERS (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, SAYING: "Hamas will pay and pay heavily for its crimes. I call on the inhabitants of Gaza to evacuate immediately every site from which Hamas is carrying out terrorist
  • Embargoed: 8th September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7A3HP803UAREIQFXOXDYNX6ZY
  • Story Text: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Palestinian civilians on Sunday (August 24) to leave immediately any site where militants are operating, one day after Israel took the Gaza war to a new level by flattening a 13-storey apartment tower.
    Israeli aircraft first fired a non-explosive rocket at the building, a sign to residents to get out, before attacking it on Saturday (August 23).
    Seventeen people were wounded in the strike on the structure, which Israel said had housed a Hamas command centre.
    "I call on the inhabitants of Gaza to evacuate immediately from every site from which Hamas is carrying out terrorist activity. Every one of these places is a target for us," Netanyahu said in public remarks at a cabinet meeting.
    With no end in sight to fighting now in its seventh week, Netanyahu's tough talk could indicate a move towards bolder strikes in densely populated neighbourhoods, even at the risk of raising more international alarm.
    Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said Israel would take its time in conducting military operations in Gaza.
    "If Hamas's leaders think they can tire us out, or believe that we have set ourselves a timetable, they are mistaken. We are not in a hurry to go anywhere, we have patience, we have stamina. Operation Protective Edge will stop only when there is total calm in the south of the country and rockets and mortar shells are no longer launched towards Israel. Until then, we will continue to pound Hamas targets and its infrastructure, at this stage, from the air," Yaalon said.
    Thousands of homes have been destroyed or damaged in the conflict. Nearly 500,000 people have been displaced in the territory of 1.8 million where Palestinians, citing Israeli attacks that have hit schools and mosques, say no place is safe.
    Israel has said Hamas bears responsibility for civilian casualties because it operates among non-combatants. The group, it said, uses schools and mosques to store weapons and as launching sites for cross-border rocket attacks.
    Palestinian health officials say 2,108 people, most of them civilians and more than 400 of them children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending Palestinian rocket fire into its territory.
    Sixty-four Israeli soldiers and four civilians in Israel have been killed.


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