Netanyahu warns Hamas of ‘very ‘painful blows’

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime minister benjamin net anyahu on Sunday threatened “very painful blows” against Gaza’s Hamas rulers if they don’t halt protests along the perimeter fence that have led to clashes with Israeli troops.

Netanyahu said Israel is very close to waging a “different kind of activity” against Hamas. He said “if it has any sense, Hamas will cease its ire and violent outbursts — now.”

Hamas has orchestrated near-weekly protests along the Israel-gaza boundary since March, pressing for an end to a decade-long Israel-egyptian blockade of the isolated territory.

The protests have intensified in recent weeks as attempts to reach a truce with Israel, including an easing of the blockade, have faltered.

Some 20 Palestinians breached the border during Friday’s protest. Seven Palestinians were killed. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced that following Friday’s demonstrations Israel would halt all fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip until further notice.

Gaza, which already suffers from chronic power outages, relies on fuel shipments from Israel to power its electricity-generating plant.

“The State of Israel was prepared to improve the civilian reality in the Gaza Strip, but the decision of the Hamas leadership to use serious violence — especially on the same day in which tankers of diesel fuel were brought into the Gaza Strip — is what brought about the decision to cut off the supply of fuels,” Lieberman said in a statement.

Since protests began in March, at least 200 Palestinians have been killed while participating in or attending the Hamas-organised demonstrations.

The protests are aimed, in part, at lifting the crippling Israeli-egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip, which was put in place after Hamas took power in a 2007 coup.