Israel Delivered Largest Strike on Hamas Targets in Gaza in 4 Years - Netanyahu

TEL AVIV (Sputnik) - The Israeli forces have delivered a heavy blow to Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, with the scale of the current operation being commensurate with that of the 2014 Operation Protective Edge, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, adding that Israel was ready for further actions.

The most recent escalation of tensions on the Israeli-Gaza border began early on Monday with a rocket launched from Gaza on the densely populated center of Israel, where a village house was destroyed. Seven people, including three children, were injured in the incident.

"We have responded with great force. In the last 24 hours, we have destroyed major Hamas terrorist installations, on a scale not seen since the end of the military operation in Gaza four years ago… We are prepared to do a lot more," Netanyahu said in a video address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)'s Policy Conference in Washington.

Netanyahu had to opt out of the AIPAC event and cut short his visit to Washington in light of the current escalation on the border with the Gaza Strip. He returned to Israel to personally lead operations against the Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip.

After the attack from the Gaza, Israel started to bolster its military presence at the border with the enclave and launched partial mobilization of reservists, while the Israel Defense Forces sent two military brigades and a command center to the border with Gaza.