Israel will do what is necessary to stop rocket fire from Gaza, former Israeli national security advisor Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror said during a news conference hosted by The Israel Project on July 8.

Israel gave Hamas 48 hours to stop the fire, with Egypt trying to broker the deal.

“Hamas’ answer was a huge attack on Israeli citizens, said Amidror who added “we will stop it by force after we couldn’t stop it by negotiations.”

The fear in Israel is that Hamas’s onslaught will only increase over the next hours and days.

“They’ve already fired rockets this morning (July 8) some 30 miles or 50 kilometers into Israel. It’s likely they will try to fire rockets toward Tel Aviv and beyond,” said The Israel Project Defense Analyst Stephane Cohen.

As the rocket range increases, Israel’s response is likely to be tougher but as Amidror pointed out Israel will do whatever it can to prevent injury to Palestinian civilians. In the opening hours of what has been dubbed Operation Protective Edge, Israel called the homes of Gazans to warn them of impending Israeli strikes at Hamas terrorists in their buildings.

“No other military system in the world did that,” said Amidror.

Israel’s defensive Iron Dome system has been in action, protecting Israel’s large population centers from attack. The system only kicks in when rockets are headed for places where people live. If it is clear the rockets will land in open areas, Iron Dome does not intercept them.

[Photo: Ira Abramov / Wiki Commons]