Netanyahu Says Not To Allow Even One Rocket

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening warned against launching rocket attacks against his country, a short time after his Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon threatened to respond "firmly" if Israel was attacked by the Gaza Strip.



"Israel's safety comes first," Netanyahu said. "I won't allow even one rocket," he added during a Hannuka candle lighting ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.



Israel claimed on Saturday that a rocket was fired on its southern part from the Gaza Strip on Friday.



On Saturday, Israeli warplanes launched a strike southern the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army said the warplanes had attacked a cement factory whose production was used by the Palestinian faction Hamas in rebuilding underground tunnels.



"That is why the IAF responded to the rocket and destroyed a cement factory that was making cement to repair tunnels that were hit during Operation Protective Edge," Netanyahu said during the ceremony.



"Hamas will be held responsible for every escalation," his office "ed him in a statement as adding.



Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon vowed to react "firmly" against Hamas in case it did not stop what he called attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israel.



In remarks he wrote on his Twitter account, Ya'alon also held Hamas responsible for everything that happened in the Gaza Strip.



He said an Israeli airstrike on Friday on a Gaza factory for the production of cement "used in rebuilding tunnels" was a warning for Hamas that Israel would not accept attacks on its cities again.



"We consider Hamas to be responsible for everything that happens in Gaza," Ya'alon said.



"We will react firmly to it if it does not know how to stop attacks against Israel," he added on Twitter.



Palestinian factions signed a Gaza cease-fire deal with Israel on August 26, following 51 days of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.



The Israeli offensive left 2,160 Palestinians dead and more than 11,000 others injured.



Friday's airstrike was the first since the signing of the cease-fire deal on August 26. 



www.aa.com.tr/en - İsrail