WASHINGTON — Despite a call from the White House for “restraint,” a determined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Friday to resist any demands to halt airstrikes aimed at crippling Hamas militants in Gaza.
“No international pressure will prevent us from acting with all force against a terrorist organization that seeks to destroy us, ” Netanyahu said on the fourth day of Israel’s response to sustained air assaults from Hamas fighters.
He made his comments just a day after speaking on the phone with President Obama, who is offering to help broker a cease-fire.
But the political mood in the Jewish state was not to pull back after more than 600 rockets were aimed at its citizens, leading to return fire by 1,000 Israeli strikes.
“Would you tolerate missile attacks on London, Washington, Paris, Berlin and Moscow?” Netanyahu asked of world leaders who want him to stand down.
In a dangerous escalation of the conflict, a rocket was fired into Israel from Lebanon, landing on a kibbutz in Galilee.
An initial assessment was that Iran-backed Hezbollah wasn’t responsible, but a Palestinian group or other jihadist organization, Reuters reported.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was even more adamant that Israel wouldn’t retreat.
“We can’t have a situation where we don’t finish the job,” he said, warning that would lead to further confrontations with a revived Hamas in the future.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon about the “risk of further escalation.”
And the White House continued to condemn the Hamas rocket attacks — while urging both sides to consider a cease-fire.
“We are urging a strong consideration for the well-being of innocents on both sides,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “And we are offering the assistance of the United States to try to facilitate a cease-fire on both sides.”
He said the US was looking to do something “similar” to 2012, when Egypt, Turkey, and other US allies in the region helped encourage both sides to stop fighting.
In other developments in the tense region:
- Netanyahu was vague on the possibility of a ground assault into the Gaza. “We are weighing all possibilities, and are prepared for all possibilities,” he said.
- Seven Israelis were wounded when a rocket from Gaza landed in Ashkelon. Two others, including an 80-year old woman, were injured by a rocket that struck Beersheba Friday.
- But there have been no deaths on the Israeli side, largely because of the Iron Dome defense system that has intercepted the vast majority of attackers’ missles.
- Palestinian authorities said the death toll in Gaza reached at least 106.
- Israel’s Iron Dome defenses intercepted dozens of rockets, including several around Tel Aviv, Israeli media reported.
- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas asked the UN Security Council to order a truce.
- Israeli officials indicated they were in no hurry to stop the campaign, as the military tries to wipe out Hamas’ ability to inflict damage for a lasting period.
