Prime Minister Netanyahu: The gloves need to come off when dealing with Hamas; ground incursion is on the table • IDF launches Operation Protective Edge in efforts to curtail escalating rocket fire from Gaza • Defense minister: We'll exact a heavy price.

Israel Hayom Staff

An Israeli tank stationed near the Gaza border on Tuesday | Photo credit: AFP

"The gloves need to come off when dealing with Hamas," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, as Israel launched Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in efforts to curb escalating rocket fire.

Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

Speaking at an emergency meeting of the top defense echelon in the Kirya IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said that "Hamas chose to escalate and they will pay dearly for it."

At the meeting, the prime minister urged the defense establishment to "engage in an unremitting, long and powerful strike in Gaza."

"We must be prepared to go all the way, and a ground offensive is also on the table," Netanyahu said.

One senior defense official indicated Tuesday that Israel was headed toward a large-scale operation in Gaza. He indicated that the IDF was preparing to mobilize additional reserves units and amass forces in the area.

The IDF opted not to make any declarations or define the operation, but officials hinted that the current effort could include a ground incursion in the future.

The Gaza offensive came in response to rapidly escalating rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which, on Monday night, reached as far north as Rehovot. On Monday and Tuesday, terrorists fired dozens of rockets across southern Israel, and as the hours passed more cities on the homefront were drawn into the line of fire.

The Iron Dome rocket-defense system made several interceptions, but shortly before the massive rocket fire began, the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet approved calling up reserves, deciding Israel should "enter the next phase" and respond with greater force.

At about 1:30 a.m., the Israeli Air Force struck targets throughout the Gaza Strip. By about 2:00 a.m., unverified reports said the homes of Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh (the former prime minister) and Mahmoud al-Zahar (co-founder of the movement) had been evacuated. Hamas responded by "calling on all resistance factions to return fire until Israel understands that our nation will neither surrender nor despair. Blood for blood."

On Tuesday, Palestinian sources reported that one Hamas operative had been killed. Since the launch of the offensive, 29 Palestinians have been wounded.

By Monday night, some 80 rockets and mortar shells had been launched at Israel, 30 of them overnight. The Iron Dome defense system shot down 12 rockets above Netivot and Ashdod. In the afternoon, the IDF struck three rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip as well as smuggling tunnels guided toward Israeli territory.

The communities and towns near the Gaza border also suffered the hostility, including in the western Negev, the Ashkelon shore area, and by Tuesday this also included Ashdod. There are fears the escalation could spread to Yavne and Gedera.

In Ashdod, people fled for shelter as rocket sirens sounded throughout the city. The Iron Dome intercepted rockets over Ashdod on Monday and Tuesday. Eight people were reported injured. One person was lightly wounded by flying shrapnel and rushed by Magen David Adom paramedics to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot. Seven other people were injured running to find emergency shelter.

Beersheba and Ofakim were also subject to Gaza rocket fire, although most of those rockets there struck open fields and the rest were intercepted by Iron Dome. Early warning sirens went off in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh but these were apparently false alarms. Sirens have yet to ring in Rishon Lezion but local authorities were following developments in the south closely.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon declared a state of emergency in communities within 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Gaza border.

Ya'alon met with GOC Homefront Command Maj. Gen. Eyal ‎Eisenberg and told him that "we are preparing for a confrontation with Hamas. We will exact a heavy price."

"This battle will not end in just a few days," Ya'alon added, saying that "we are prepared to widen the scope of the fighting with every means at our disposal in order to continue to hit Hamas."

In light of the growing violence, the Homefront Command issued instructions to civilians living within a range of 40 kilometers (25 kilometers) from the Gaza border on how to protect themselves. Gatherings of more than 500 people in a closed facility or an open space have been forbidden. Summer camps will open only in facilities that have bomb shelters. In addition, the municipalities in the communities along the border as well as in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheba have been instructed to unlock the public bomb shelters in the city, which are generally locked during peacetime.

Another senior military official told Israel Hayom on Monday that "the message to Hamas is clear: cease-fire without any conditions or any terms. Not only are Hamas forces not stopping the rocket fire, they are firing rockets themselves."

"The offensive in Gaza will be very tough, and will only get tougher as time goes by," he added.