Olmert: Blackout inconvenient, Qassams kill
PM unfazed by warnings of pending humanitarian crisis in Gaza, acknowledges situation in Gaza 'inconvenient, but unlike Qassam attacks it is not deadly'
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday played down warnings of a looming humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip if Israel widens it military operations there, describing the situation in the tiny territory as "inconvenient."
"It is true that the situation in Gaza in inconvenient. So let it be inconvenient for those engaging in terror," Olmert told cabinet ministers.
Olmert briefed ministers on talks he held with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "Although it is inconvenient without electricity, but rockets kill," Olmert reportedly told Annan, referring to daily Qassam fire from the northern Gaza Strip towards Israel.
PM Olmert and FM Livni during Cabinet meeting (Photo: Reuters)
Olmert said Israel has not and will not allow a humanitarian crisis to occur in the Gaza Strip, but will no longer tolerate terror attacks emanating from Gaza.
Palestinian gunmen waged an attack on an Israel Defense Forces outpost near Gaza last Sunday, killing two soldiers and kidnapping Corporal Gilad Shalit.
"This situation brings us to a double-edged war: Against terror emanating from Gaza and against Qassam fire. I bear responsibility for what is happening today in Gaza and I told the army that I want no one to be able to sleep at night in Gaza to give them a sense of what our communities in the south endure…No one died of inconvenience, but Qassams are deadly," he said.
'Crisis yielded opportunities'
Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin told ministers that the latest crisis has given Israel enough leverage to deal Hamas's terror infrastructure a blow.
"The kidnapping and Qassam attacks have made us capable to deal with Hamas's emboldened terror network. If we deal properly with the current kidnapping we will be able to deal with future kidnappings," Yadin said.
He said Egypt is trying to negotiate the release of Shalit, but talks with Palestinian factions involved in the kidnapping yielded no fruits so far.
Yadlin added that Palestinian security forces have done nothing to locate Shalit and his kidnappers.
Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin warned that agreeing to a negotiated prisoner exchange deal with the kidnapers will amount to encouraging further kidnappings.
"Each kidnapping attack encourages two to four plans for similar attacks," he said.
Olmert added that negotiating the release of Shalit with Hamas will further weaken Abbas and legitimize the Islamic group.
The prime minister reiterated his vow not to release Palestinian prisoners in return for Shalit's freedom.
