Goal to destroy Hamas war capability

ISRAEL has declared that the main goal of its offensive in the Gaza Strip is to destroy the "war infrastructure" of Hamas. Minister for Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein told The Australian Israel had a clear strategy.

"We are executing a well-planned operation to bring about quiet to the south of Israel," he said. "We will do whatever it takes. The fact that there are three more, or five less, rockets does not mean that much. The goal of the operation is to bring quiet to the south. There are one million people living under all of this."

Mr Edelstein was speaking during a visit to the emergency command centre in the southern city of Ashkelon, which has been under rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in recent weeks. Israel launched its bombing campaign last Thursday, Australian time, after several weeks of rocket fire. Those rocket attacks intensified when 124 rockets were fired in three days.

Israel began the offensive by assassinating Hamas's military commander Ahmed al-Jabari as he drove through Gaza City. "The example of Ahmed Jabari shows that as long as they plan terrorist attacks they will themselves be targeted," Mr Edelstein said.

"The main goal is to destroy the war infrastructure of Hamas and to threaten the heads of Hamas."

Asked what he thought was the long-term solution, Mr Edelstein said: "As far as we are concerned we are not interfering in internal Palestinian affairs. We are calling on the Palestinian Authority to negotiate. Hamas says loud and clear their goal is to destroy what they call the Zionist entity.

"We have to bring back the situation to where people can live normal lives. We definitely cannot live with the situation we have had for the last two weeks."