Opposition and coalition lawmakers expressed their support for the military operation launched on Tuesday in the Gaza Strip that killed three senior members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid tweeted that he gave “my support to the security forces for this operation against Islamic Jihad in Gaza”. He added that: “This morning, the terrorist groups in Gaza know that the intelligence community and the security forces are following their every move and every step and the score will be settled.”
“An Israeli response at the time and place of our choosing is the way to deal with the terror in Gaza. We will support any operation to defend our neighbors to the south,” Lapid said.
At least 13 people were killed in the bombings, according to the Hamas-controlled territory’s health ministry. Islamic Jihad said the wives of the three commanders and some of their children were among the dead. At least 20 people were injured in the strikes.
National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, who had been boycotting government activity in recent days over the government’s “weak” response to rocket fire from Gaza last week, called the launch of Operation Shield and Arrow “a good beginning”.
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“I congratulate the prime minister for the proactive operation in Gaza,” Ben Gvir said. “It’s a good start. The time has come to change our policy in Gaza.” He did not say whether he planned to end his boycott.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir makes a press statement during a meeting of his Otzma Yehudit party in the southern city of Sderot on May 3, 2023. (Flash90)
Announcing the details of the targeted attacks, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wrote: “Any terrorist element that harms the citizens of Israel will regret it,” adding: “We will pursue and reach our enemies.”
The attacks came days after Gaza terrorists led by Islamic Jihad fired 104 rockets at Israel in response to the death of an alleged senior member of the group who had been on hunger strike in an Israeli prison. Several rockets hit Sderot during the May 2 clash, injuring three workers and damaging homes and cars.
Israel carried out some limited retaliatory strikes at the time, but the government drew criticism from the right for not reacting more forcefully.
Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided on Operation Shield and Arrow during discussions with security officials on Friday, without involving other cabinet members. According to an unsourced report on news site Ynet, they specifically kept Ben Gvir in the dark amid fears he would leak details of the upcoming strikes and negate the element of surprise.
Still, some lawmakers in the right-wing coalition hinted they were involved in the decision-making, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich tweeting his thanks to Israeli citizens “for trusting us even when you can’t tell everything in real time.” Likud MP Nissim Vaturi wrote: “As I promised, we operate at a time and place that suits us.”
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who left for India on Monday evening, said Tuesday morning that he would cut his trip short and return to Israel on Tuesday evening after a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Mode.
The head of the National Unity party, Benny Gantz, the former defense minister, said on Tuesday: “Our enemies were wrong in their assessment of the situation.” Gantz welcomed the start of the operation and said he hoped the current government “also knows how to behave with the necessary combination of responsibility and determination in the future.”
Meanwhile, MP Ofer Cassif of Hadash-Ta’al denounced the “massacre in Gaza”, saying it was only aimed at “keeping the party of racist filth in government”, a reference to Ben Gvir and his Otzma extreme right Yehudi Party
Ra’am MK Waleed Taha was more explicit in his condemnation, tweeting that “Palestinian blood is the price to return Itamar Ben Gvir and Almog [Cohen] to vote!” Cohen is also a member of Otzma Yehudit.
Mourners comfort each other at the Al-Shifa hospital morgue after Israeli airstrikes killed a dozen Palestinians in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The Israeli army says it has killed three senior Islamic Jihad group commanders in targeted airstrikes. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Likud MP Hanoch Milwidsky rejected any attempt to connect the launch of the operation with the boycott of Ben Gvir.
“It’s crazy and absurd to think that someone would time a military operation because of political pressure,” Milwidsky said in an interview with Radio 103 FM Tuesday morning. “It would be a terrible thing if that were the case, and it is not.”
Yesh Atid MP Ram Ben-Barak, a former Mossad deputy director, mocked Ben Gvir, tweeting: “Itamar, breathe. The decision was made in a deliberation you were not a part of.” Ben-Barak added that his party “endorses the government in its fight against terrorism. Right now there is no left or right.”
Labor MP Efrat Rayten said she was relieved no IDF soldiers had been harmed so far in the operation and hoped for “calm days” for Israelis living near Gaza. He added that the Foreign Office will have a “tough job” to explain the deaths of women and children in the strikes. “Ben Gvir was excluded from the decision to launch the operation,” Rayten wrote. “The message: ‘You are harmful and unwanted’.”
Otzma Yehudit’s Cohen, who last week had publicly pushed for a tough IDF retaliation to the rocket fire, said he would close his “Sderot office,” which he opened to draw attention to the city damaged by rockets
“You have our full [backing] act against and fight terror until calm returns,” he said.
MK Otzma Yehudit Almog Cohen reacts during a discussion at the Knesset in Jerusalem on February 22, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
After explosions rocked Gaza early Tuesday morning, Israeli residents of areas within 40 kilometers (25 miles) of the Strip were instructed to enter or remain near air raid shelters amid fears of attacks by retaliation
Previous attacks on Islamic Jihad leaders have led to rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and intense battles with Israeli troops, some of which have lasted several days.
The IDF began hitting targets in the Strip shortly after 2 a.m. in a coordinated surprise attack on the group’s top leaders.
Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the IDF had hit its targets with the first strikes.
“At this stage, we have achieved what we set out to do, we have achieved what we need and, if necessary, we will deepen our attacks. We are ready for any scenario,” Hagari told reporters.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
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