'Nobody wants an escalation'

Colonel Kobi Heller, the commander of the IDF’s Southern Brigade, on Sunday evening met with the residents of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, located near the border with Gaza.

The meeting was held hours after the IDF finished demolishing a Hamas terror tunnel that passed under the Kerem Shalom Crossing from Gaza into Israel.

"Nobody wants to reach an escalation in the situation,” Heller told the residents, as quoted on Israeli media, and added, “We have responded to each rocket attack. Some of the retaliations were large but there has been zero response from the Gazan side. This shows our high deterrence.”