Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country will go to war with Gaza if Hamas does not stop rocket attacks in the Gaza Strip.
“If you don't shoot them, we will shoot you. I'm talking about a war,” he said. “I only go to war as a last option but we have prepared something you can't even imagine."
According to CBN News, the Israel Defense Forces closed schools, roads and a railway near Gaza on Monday. The IDF also advised the public to not go to work unless near a bomb shelter.
The attacks started Sunday night as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group launched some 40 rockets and mortar shells at Israelis.
Many of the rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome Missile Defense System. The others landed in open areas. There were no injuries from the rockets, but two Israelis were taken to the hospital for anxiety and injuries sustained while fleeing to a bomb shelter.
The rocket fire started after Israeli soldiers shot and killed a PIJ terrorist who was trying to plant an explosive device on a security fence on Sunday.
Israel Defense Forces retrieved the body and Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said he will keep it with the other bodies of killed Palestinian terrorists. He plans to only release the bodies when terrorists return the bodies of Israeli soldiers who were captured and killed in the 2014 Gaza war.
“Hamas is holding the bodies of [fallen soldiers] Hadar Goldin and Oron [Shaul]," he said. "I back the IDF that killed the terrorists and collected the body. This is how we should and will act."
Following the rocket attacks, IDF also struck back at PIJ locations in Syria and Gaza. The PIJ said in a statement that two of its soldiers were killed.
"This cowardly aggression in Damascus was a reflection of the enemy's failure to confront our fighters inside occupied Palestine," the group said, adding that “we promise to God that the response to this ugly crime will come.”
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/John Theodor
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
