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