'Let IDF complete Gaza mission, 14 years of terror are enough'

Mayors of Israel's southern communities demand IDF be allowed to continue Gaza campaign until terror threat is fully eliminated • "If they reach a truce before the tunnels are taken care of we won't be able to go home," says resident of Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

Gadi Golan, Nitzi Yaakov and Israel Hayom Staff

An Israeli soldier inspects the remnants of a mortar shell that hit a field in one of the Gaza vicinity communities

The mayors of Israel's southern communities, which have come under heavy terrorist fire over the past three weeks, expressed a growing sense of frustration Wednesday over what they called the government's indecisiveness on the future of Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip.

The mayors are demanding that the Israel Defense Forces be allowed to continue the Gaza campaign until the threats posed by both rocket fire and terror tunnels are fully eliminated.

The government "can't continue with this zigzag policy. It hurts us and it undermines the soldiers, who need to know that actual decisions are being made," said one council head, who asked to remain anonymous.

"The military should be allowed to see the operation in Gaza through, for as long as it takes. We don't want to have to deal with rocket fire anymore, and we don't want to have to deal the judgment day weapon of the tunnels. Fourteen years of terror are enough," he said.

"The cabinet has to make a decision and that decision has to be to eliminate the tunnels and restore the residents' sense of security by any means necessary, even after a cease-fire is reached," Yair Farjun, head of the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, said Wednesday.

Shaar Hanegev Regional Council head Alon Shuster said, "I demand the government declare an all-out war on the terror tunnels. I expect the cabinet to order the IDF to continue the operation until all the tunnels the IDF knows about are destroyed."

Head of the Merhavim Regional Council Shai Hajaj said, "All we want is to live here in peace and quiet, but experience has taught us that Hamas violates humanitarian cease-fires and that all they want is war. We will not tolerate the drizzle of rockets and we will not tolerate the tunnel threat."

Sdot Negev Regional Council head Tamir Idan reiterated the sentiment, saying the government must order the all terror tunnels eliminated.

"The government has the responsibility to let the military destroy all the terror tunnels that exist in Gaza Strip. I oppose any cease-fire that would limit the IDF's operation. These tunnels pose a strategic threat to the State of Israel and [they] threaten the lives of the people living in the south."

Meanwhile, residents of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, which is adjacent to the Gaza border, expressed concern about what the future holds for the days after Operation Protective Edge ends.

Nahal Oz is often a target for terrorist rocket fire and has suffered from persistent shelling over the past three weeks. Several terror tunnels and shafts have been discovered near the kibbutz, and five Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday while thwarting a terrorist infiltration attempt on its outskirts.

The majority of Nahal Oz's residents have left for the duration of the military operation, following an IDF recommendation to that effect, which was issued for all Gaza vicinity communities soon after Operation Protective Edge was launched on July 7.

"This is a crazy situation and we have no idea what's going to happen the day after" the operation ends, Nahal Oz resident Hedva Gabriel, a mother of two, told Israel Hayom Wednesday.

"All of us in Shaar Hanegev have no idea what we're going to do the day after. Do we go back? Do we look for another place to live? Living with rocket fire is crazy in itself, but living with tunnels? It's irresponsible for me, as a parent, to bring my children back there if that's the situation. If we reach a truce before all the tunnels are taken care of we won't be able to go back home."

Keren Dorin-Katz, a mother of four, said, "I trust the military, not the government, even though the IDF follows the government's orders. I trust the IDF to destroy all the tunnels. I trust that the IDF will come up with creative solutions, and so will we."