Israeli PM threatens to launch more airstrikes in Gaza

JERUSALEM, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel had carried out the largest strike on militant sites in Gaza since 2014 and threatened to launch more strikes.

Netanyahu made the remarks during a speech via satellite to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual gathering in Washington.

The speech was broadcast from the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv because Netanyahu decided to cut short his visit to the United States in the wake of an escalation of tension with Gaza after a long-range rocket hit a home in central Israel on Monday.

He landed in Israel earlier on Tuesday and headed directly to the Defense Ministry for security consultations, his office said.

"In the last 24 hours, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) destroyed major Hamas terrorist installations on a scale not seen since the end of the military operation in Gaza four years ago," he said.

"Now I just come from a meeting with our Chief of Staff and our senior command," he added. "And I can tell you, we are prepared to do a lot more."

Israeli warplanes and helicopters carried out dozens of airstrikes overnight between Monday and Tuesday, targeting 15 militant sites, according to the Israeli army. Among these sites were the headquarters of Hamas Chairman Ismail Haniyeh, which was destroyed to the ground.

Militants in Gaza responded with a barrage of rockets launched towards communities in southern Israel. An Israeli military spokesperson said at least 30 short-range rockets were launched, triggering air raid warning sirens and the Iron Dome anti-rocket system.

One rocket hit a residential home in the southern city of Sderot, causing damage but no injuries.

A tensed calm was restored on Tuesday after an unofficial Egyptian-brokered cease-fire was achieved.

However, Netanyahu was under pressure by some of his far-right coalition partners to continue pounding Gaza. Naftali Bennett, leader of the ultra-nationalist party the "New Right" and a cabinet minister, urged Netanyahu to "wipe out" Hamas leadership in Gaza.

The escalation came in a sensitive time, ahead of Israel's April 9 general elections and before Hamas' anniversary of the "Great March of Return," the weekly protests along the Gaza-Israel fence that began on March 30, 2018.