TEL AVIV, August 24 (RIA Novosti) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip is far from over and warned Palestinian citizens to immediately leave the enclave.
"Operation Protective Edge will continue until its aims are achieved. It may take time… We are determined to complete the tasks of Operation Protective Edge, even after the school year opens," Netanyahu said in remarks broadcast by public radio.
"I call on the inhabitants of Gaza to vacate immediately every site from which [ruling over the Gaza Strip movement] Hamas is carrying out terrorist activity. Every one of these places is a target for us," the Israeli prime minister said.
On Friday, Netanyahu vowed harsh retribution against Hamas after a four-year-old Israeli child was killed by a mortar from Gaza.
On July 8, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge against the Hamas movement in response to the military group’s rocket attacks. On July 17, the Israeli switched to a ground offensive to destroy Hamas rocket launchers and the network of attack tunnels along the Gaza border with western Israel. The conflict claimed the lives of some 2,000 Palestinians and over 60 people on the Israeli side.
