TEL AVIV - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak urged the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers on Monday to rein in militant groups behind a surge in attacks on Israel, coupling his appeal with a veiled threat of Israeli action.
“I think the recent days reflect the inability of Hamas to control the dissident groups, the Popular Committees or Islamic Jihad, who are trying to break the tranquillity,” Barak told Reuters during the unveiling of an Israeli anti-rocket system due to be deployed outside the Gaza Strip by June.
“Hamas is well deterred from trying another direct collision with Israel. I hope that they will take over — or else,” Barak, asked if a new Gaza war was possible, said in English, referring to the Islamist movement imposing its authority on smaller armed groups.
On Sunday, three Palestinian militants were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a “powerful response” to any attacks from the territory.
Netanyahu said 20 mortar bombs and rockets had been fired at Israel from the Hamas-ruled territory last week.
Violence has risen along the Israeli-Gaza frontier in the past month, which could further complicate U.S.-backed diplomacy in the region, after a respite since a three-week Gaza war a year ago in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.
Asked about Barak’s comments, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the Palestinian attacks were carried out in response to “continued Israeli aggression”.
A Palestinian official, who asked not to be identified, said Hamas planned to meet other groups soon to urge restraint, unless Israel stepped up its attacks
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