Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel was going on with Gaza raids “as long as necessary”, with ministers in the Zionist entity were discussing a ground operation in the strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel was going on with Gaza raids “as long as necessary”, with ministers in the Zionist entity were discussing a ground operation in the strip.

"We extracted a high price from them and will continue to do so," he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. "We will act as long as necessary."

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said the flareup meant that the Zionist entity would soon have to consider sending troops into Gaza as it did in the massive 22-day offensive which ended in mid-January 2009, leaving 1,400 Palestinian martyrs.

"Sooner or later, we will probably have to put an end to the Hamas regime, the terror regime, in Gaza," he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

But Environment Minister Gilad Erdan argued that a ground operation would be a dangerous diversion “from Israel's current priority -- preventing a nuclear Iran”.
"Our defense systems are working well, particularly Iron Dome, and the army has inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists, so for the time being, there is no need for a ground operation," he said.
"The Israeli interest is for the world to focus on sanctions on Iran, not on an Israeli military campaign."

For his part, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman justified the initial attack against PRC leader Sheikh Zuhair al-Qaisi, calling him "a ticking bomb" who was about to attack the Zionist entity.
But he said a ground operation was "not desirable," unless it had the clear goal of overthrowing the territory's Hamas rulers.
Sheikh Qaisi was martyred on Friday as Israeli air forces staged a strike on Gaza strip.