JERUSALEM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that the Israeli army would maintain its ongoing air offensive against the Gaza Strip until calm was restored and all rocket fire emanating from Gaza was halted.
Speaking to a press conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israel had struck over 1000 targets across the embattled territory since the offensive began late Monday, Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post reported.
"We are preparing all options," the Israeli premier was quoted as saying when asked whether the self-proclaimed Jewish state planned to launch a ground assault against Gaza.
Netanyahu went on to assert that international pressure would not force Israel to halt its operation.
For the past four days, Israeli warplanes have pounded the Gaza Strip as part of a military offensive – dubbed "Operation Protective Edge" – with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave.
At least 100 Gazans, mostly civilians, have been killed and hundreds injured since the operation began Monday night, according to Palestinian medical sources.
Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, have continued to fire rockets into Israel – where no fatalities have been reported thus far – in response to the unrelenting airstrikes.
By Abdel-Raouf Arnaout
www.aa.com.tr/en
