Region | Palestinian Territories
Senior Israeli officials warn of Hamas' growing military power
Gaza's ruling Hamas is rapidly improving its military capacity and could soon endanger hundreds of thousands more Israelis with its missiles, Israel's public security minister said on Saturday, the latest of several senior Israeli officials to warn of a growing danger from Gaza.
- AP
- Published: 15:48 May 17, 2008
Occupied Jerusalem: Gaza's ruling Hamas is rapidly improving its military capacity and could soon endanger hundreds of thousands more Israelis with its missiles, Israel's public security minister said on Saturday, the latest of several senior Israeli officials to warn of a growing danger from Gaza.
The minister, Avi Dichter, told Israel Radio that Israel must destroy Hamas' arsenal, claiming it was almost on par with that of a sovereign state. In a separate interview, the outgoing air force chief, Major General Eliezer Shkedi, said that in a future war, Israel would come under heavy rocket attack, including from Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is coming under growing public pressure at home to order a military offensive against Hamas, following two deadly missile strikes and a rocket hit on a crowded mall within a week.
The recent warnings further contributed to the push for an offensive. In Gaza, Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, said Israel is exaggerating Hamas' capacity in order to set the stage for a large-scale operation. However, Abu Obeida also said Hamas is pushing hard to obtain more weapons.
Olmert has held off on an offensive, in part because Israel does not seem to have an exit strategy, because a reoccupation of Gaza would kill many Israelis and Palestinians, and because the fighting would almost certainly derail Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and thus
sabotage a key US foreign policy objective.
However, earlier this week, Israel's army's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, dropped his opposition to a ground offensive in Gaza, security officials said.
Israel's military intelligence chief, Major General Amos Yadlin, warned this week that Hamas is expanding the range of its missiles and that cities such as Ashdod or Beersheba could soon come under threat.
Hamas is obtaining longer-range missiles through smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border, and Israel believes Iran is the main supplier. Hamas also produces short-range Qassam rockets in Gaza.
Dichter told Israel Radio on Saturday that Hamas' military arsenal is almost on par with that of a sovereign state. He said that while 200,000 Israelis are currently threatened by Hamas missiles, that number could grow to half a million soon.
Strategic targets, such as the turbines of Ashkelon's power plant and the Ashdod port, are under threat, he said. "We mustn't let Hamas grab Israel by the turbines," he said, portraying Gaza's rulers as a "malignant Iranian tumour."
Dichter said Israel's strategic objective is to destroy the Hamas threat, and that Egyptian efforts to negotiate a period of calm on the Gaza-Israel border would at best offer a brief tactical advantage.
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