Netanyahu's aggressive Gaza policies facing backlash

Following increasing tensions in the Gaza Strip, Arab members of Israel's parliament accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of escalating the situation in the Gaza Strip for his own political survival.

“The man who lost consecutive elections will leave the ground burnt in a desperate attempt to stay in his position," MK Ayman Odeh said on Twitter, referring to Prime Minister Netanyahu who has failed twice to secure electoral victory for his right-wing Likud Party this year. "For a decade, he [Netanyahu] worked every morning to prolong the occupation and undermine prospects for peace and this is what he did today as well," he said. MK Walid Taha warned that Netanyahu's policy of escalation would drag the region into a "real disaster." "What is happening threatens the security of the entire region and the lives of millions of innocent people in Gaza Strip," he said. "Israel is in danger as a result of Netanyahu's aggressive policies."

Netanyahu said yesterday fighting in the Gaza Strip could prove protracted. "Israel is not interested in escalation, but we will do everything required to protect ourselves," he told reporters at military headquarters. "This could take time. What is needed is stamina and cool-headedness." The country's military chief of staff also said that Israel will renew targeted killings in the Gaza Strip if it has to. "We have no interest in an escalation. But we are ready for anything. I repeat, we have no interest in an escalation. But we are prepared for any scenario. If we have to, we will even return to the policy of targeted killings," Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi told a news conference at the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.