Defense Minister Ehud Barak
addressed the clashes
in Gaza during a Labor faction meeting on Wednesday afternoon and said these incidents "remind us that some of our enemies refuse to accept the fact that we are here for good.
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"Even in moments of grief we must not lose our judgment. We are aware that Gaza's population is suffering. The situation there is difficult, but the suffering of the (Israeli) residents of the Gaza-vicinity communities and IDF soldiers is more important to us.
"We have triumphed over difficult challenges in the past," he said, "this is not a case of 'bang and we're done.'"
A senior IDF officer from the Southern Command said that the preliminary inquiry into the soldiers' deaths indicates that the force acted in accordance with regulations but apparently made several tactical errors, which are being studied.
"It would appear that the deterrence achieved by operation 'Warm Winter' has dissipated and Hamas has resumed a frequent rate of attacks," said the officer. "Over the past two weeks we have witnessed a rise in the amount of terror attacks being carried out, particularly along the border fence."
The officer said that the IDF has stepped up its operations in the Gaza-vicinity area as a response.
On Tuesday a tunnel filled with explosives was detonated under a house in northern Gaza while troops were operating in the region. No injuries were reported in the incident.
"The terrorists are booby-trapping buildings, in an effort to impede our operations. We're at war and while we almost always have achievements, they do not always come without a price," he said. "The scope of our operations is immense; we cannot guarantee 100% of them will end without casualties."
Atilla Somfalvi contributed to this report
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