Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned Palestinian militants against carrying out attacks in revenge for the blowing up of a tunnel stretching from the Gaza Strip into the Jewish state last month. The Islamic Jihad group meanwhile threatened to hit back at Israel over the destruction of the tunnel it says it dug.
The heated rhetoric comes at a sensitive time for the Palestinians, who are seeking to follow through on a landmark reconciliation deal signed last month aimed at ending a 10-year split between rivals Fatah and Hamas, the Islamist movement which runs Gaza. Israel and militants in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008.
The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, expressed concern, saying "the reckless actions and statements of militants in Gaza risk a dangerous escalation". "Palestinians have embarked on a course to solve the humanitarian crisis in the strip and bring back the legitimate authorities. They should not be distracted by extremists," he said in a statement.
Israel's October 30 blowing up of the tunnel resulted in the deaths of 12 Palestinian militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. "There are still those who toy with trying new attacks on Israel," Netanyahu said at the opening of his weekly cabinet meeting.
"We will react forcefully to whoever tries to attack us or attacks us from any arena. I mean anyone - rebel factions, organisations, anyone," he said in an apparent reference to Islamic Jihad. "In any case, we hold Hamas responsible for any attack against us originating from Gaza or organised there."
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