WIll intensify attacks on Gaza if fire continues: Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday threatened to attack the Gaza Strip with great force if fire incidents near the fence between Israel and the besieged Palestinian enclave continue.

The remark was made during an opening ceremony of a fortified emergency room in the Barzilai Medical Center in the southern city of Ashkelon. It followed an explosive device attached to the fence that injured four Israeli soldiers on Saturday.

"Any act of aggression by the terrorists will meet with a strong and determined response on our part, by the IDF (Israel's army) and the security sources," Xinhua quoted Netanyahu as saying.

"We will not accept trickles or bombs on the fence such as we saw last weekend," said the Prime Minister.

He vowed to aggravate Israel's response to such incidents.

"Whoever hurts us will himself be hurt. Whoever does not act to calm the situation but instead chooses to fan the flames will bear full responsibility," he said.

On Saturday and Sunday, Israel's air force attacked Gaza with 18 strikes, killing at least two 17-year-old Palestinians.

On Sunday night, Gaza militants responded with firing a rocket towards southern Israel, which was retaliated with an Israeli airstrike of a tunnel in Gaza that was built by Hamas, according to Israel.

--IANS

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