After Middle East ceasefire: Israeli government announces tough action

A ceasefire was reached between Israel and Hamas.

But the tone remains extremely tense.

Netanyahu's government announces tough action.

Gaza / Tel Aviv - Thanks to the negotiated ceasefire, the situation in the Middle East has calmed down somewhat, but the situation is anything but relaxed.

No rockets have been fired since last Friday morning, but the saber rattle can still be felt.

Representatives of the Israeli government reaffirmed their willingness to react much harder than before to any attack from the Palestinian territory in the future.

Ceasefire in the Middle East conflict: Israel's government wants to crack down on Hamas

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu * had already

spoken

of "new

rules of the game" with Hamas

after the ceasefire came into force on Friday night

.

Finance Minister Israel Katz from the right-wing conservative ruling party Likud is now behind this line.

"For every attack on the south, there must be targeted killings of Hamas leaders and fires on Hamas targets," he told radio station 103FM on Sunday.

His party friend Zachi Hanegbi, the Israeli settlement minister, went even further.

Israel shouldn't wait for rocket attacks, he told the TV broadcaster Kanal 13. A new armament of Hamas with rockets would also be a reason for Israel to initiate an attack.

According to the Israeli army, Palestinian militants fired more than 4,360 rockets at Israel during the armed forces.

680 of them hit the Gaza Strip itself.

In the attacks in Israel * 13 people were killed.

The Israeli army shot at more than 1,500 targets in the coastal strip.

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 248 Palestinians were killed, more than a quarter of them minors.

Israel's army, on the other hand, speaks of more than 200 Palestinian militants killed in the Gaza Strip.

Rubble in the Gaza Strip - UN Security Council calls for rapid humanitarian aid

The destruction in the Gaza Strip is devastating. The bombing from Israel was directed against Hamas' military infrastructure, but also caused immense damage to residential and high-rise buildings, health facilities and other public buildings. On Sunday, volunteers began clearing away the rubble, and shops and banks reopened. The UN Security Council has campaigned for rapid humanitarian aid for the civilian population there. Rapid reconstruction is required. Israel fears, however, that the aid supplies could be misused to re-arm Hamas. That happened in 2014 after the last Gaza war.

The UN Security Council therefore insists on the urgency of achieving lasting peace in the region.

The aim is to create two democratic states: Israel and Palestine, peacefully side by side.

US President Joe Biden * and the European Union are also pushing for such a two-state solution.

List of rubric lists: © Yuval Chen / Yedioth Ahronoth Pool / dpa