Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday Zionists must be ready for a long military campaign in Gaza, after six settlers were killed today by the resistance mortar fire.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday Zionists must be ready for a long military campaign in Gaza, after six settlers were killed today by the resistance mortar fire.

"We must be prepared for a lengthy campaign," Netanyahu said in a speech broadcast live, soon after the news of the shelling of the Eshkol region that also reportedly wounded at least 12 settlers.

"Israeli settlers cannot live with the threat from rockets and from death tunnels -- death from above and from below," he said.

Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon also spoke of a lengthy campaign saying it could take "many more days until the quiet is restored."