Netanyahu and Katz Warn Hamas: Stop Gaza Launches or Face Intensified IDF Action

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz held a security assessment on Sunday evening, August 23, on the threat posed by drones, balloons and kites launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, the head of the National Security Council, and senior IDF officials took part in the discussion. The two leaders warned Hamas that Israel would respond if the launches continued.

"Israel is warning Hamas that if launches toward Israel are not stopped immediately, the IDF will act to intensify interdiction against those responsible for the launches and will move populations out of areas from which kites, drones, and balloons are set to be launched," they said. "We will not return to the reality that existed before October 7," Netanyahu said. "Israel will not allow the Hamas terror organization, or any other factor in the Gaza Strip, to return and threaten our settlements and undermine the sense of security of our citizens."

Earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu released a video addressing the growing drone threat and the possibility that it could be used from Gaza. "Do you have a drone at home? It can be lethal. If it comes in swarms, and you arm it, it is very accurate and hard to see," he said. "We are the most advanced in the world, but this is a global problem. We saw it in Ukraine, we saw it in Lebanon, we saw it in Iran, and now they are trying to renew it and bring it into Gaza." He said he had instructed the security establishment and the IDF to take aggressive action against the threat in the southern sector: "To strike it, to strike its operators, to strike from the place where it was launched, to do everything to protect our citizens."

(INN/VFI News)

“Dear Lord, we thank You for watching over the communities along the Gaza border, and we ask that You shield them from every threat that rises against them, whether it comes by air or by land. Give wisdom and resolve to Israel's leaders and commanders as they act to protect the people, and grant our soldiers alertness and courage in every mission. We pray that the plans of Hamas and all who seek Israel's harm would come to nothing, and that the residents of the south would live in the peace and security You promised. In Yeshua's Name we pray.”