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Smoke billows as a result of an Israeli attack on Beit Lahia, north of Gaza, on May 12, 2023. Photo/Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency
TEL AVIV – Israel announced that it would not stop its attacks on Gaza until the Islamic Jihad stops firing rockets at Israel.
“The Egyptian people are trying as usual,” said Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi on Saturday (13/5/2023).
He added, “They are talking to their partners, especially Hamas. I don’t know how close they are to the Islamic Jihad faction, Iran’s executive contractor.”
Hanegbi points out, so far, the Egyptians, “Haven’t succeeded in persuading the Islamic Jihad to stop shelling Israel.”
He emphasized that Israel would not agree to end its “targeted killings” policy in the Gaza Strip. “Our goal is ‘silence will meet silence,'” he said.
Meanwhile, Hanegbi said before the Israeli attack, Islamic Jihad had around 6,000 rockets in Gaza, and now only about 5,000 remain.
“This number is small compared to Hamas which has four times that,” he said.
Hanegbi added, “Fortunately, the damage was minimal because Iron Dome knew how to intercept 96.3 percent of the shots, and many of the rockets did not (even) reach the level of interception because they fell on Gaza.”
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