Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Monday morning that the IDF is prepared to enter Gaza and conduct a massive counter terrorist campaign to stop Kassam rocket attacks. He made a similar statement to the committee last month and has said several times the past year that "it is only a matter of time" before the IDF enters Gaza.

"The army is acting according to my instructions to prepare for the possibility of a wide counter terrorist operation," he stated. The Defense Minister, who ordered the sudden withdrawal of the IDF from Lebanon in 2000, added that the government will take every measure necessary to "to return peace and security to the residents of Sderot and communities near Gaza."