Defense Minister Amir Peretz held a security meeting on Friday afternoon with IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, intelligence officials and Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, on the subject of IDF operations against Kassam fire in the Gaza Strip. At the meeting, Peretz ordered the IDF to continue with its current policy of pinpointed airstrikes against Hamas terrorists and Kassam infrastructure. Peretz also said the infantry force that had taken up positions in Gaza on Thursday would maintain its presence in effort to assist in identifying Kassam squads. Earlier, a high-ranking IDF officer said Friday that the goal of the current operation in Gaza was to "make Hamas pay" for its continued terror attacks against Israel. Predicting that Kassam rocket fire would continue over the next few days, the officer said that the IDF planned to continue its current policy of bombing Kassam manufacturing plants, warehouses, Kassam rocket squads and other Hamas infrastructure involved in terror attacks. He also hinted that the IDF operations could continue even if Hamas stopped firing rockets.
Israel is not "conducting a dialogue" with Hamas, he said, and added that IDF operations were not necessarily dependent on the continuation of rocket attacks. "We're not just attacking real estate. We want to make Hamas pay for the terror," he said.