Resignation of Israel’s Defence Minister Over Gaza Truce

Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said; Israel was doing serious damage to national security in the long term.

Avigdor Lieberman Israel’s Defence Minister has resigned over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to agree a truce with the militant group Hamas, describing it as a capitulation to terror, after ending of two days fighting with Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Avigdor Lieberman called for fresh elections and assailed Mr. Netanyahu for the ceasefire and his response to months of rocket and mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip, which has flared up into the most intense fighting since the war in 2014.

I hope that in talks between party heads . . . we will reach an agreement on a date for elections, Mr. Lieberman told reporters on Wednesday.

He added that the government was making a serious mistake by accepting a ceasefire with Hamas and other militant groups that Israel, the US, EU and UK have designated as terrorist organizations.

Mr. Lieberman revealed he had similarly opposed recent decisions to allow into Gaza fuel for the territory’s power plant and $15m (£12m) in cash from Qatar intended to fund the salaries of unpaid civil servants in the Hamas-run government.

Eight people were killed on Monday and Tuesday as militants fired 460 rockets towards Israel and Israeli forces bombed 160 targets in Gaza.

One of the rockets hit a block of flats in the town of Ashkelon, killing a Palestinian man who was working in Israel.

The ceasefire was largely holding on Wednesday and schools and businesses in southern Israel reopened after no rocket attacks were reported overnight.

Palestinian health officials later said, a fisherman had been killed by Israeli fire in northern Gaza. Israel’s military said, it had shot at and captured a Palestinian man who tried to breach the Israel-Gaza border fence while hurling grenades.

The fighting – the most intense since the 50-day war in 2014 – began after an Israeli special forces undercover operation in Gaza was exposed on Sunday, triggering clashes that left seven Palestinian militants and one Israeli soldier dead.

 

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