Yair Lapid in Sderot
Yair Lapid in SderotFlash 90

Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) reiterated that the goal of Operation Protective Edge was to return calm to the south on Tuesday, in a morning interview with IDF Radio. 

"First and foremost, the aim is to calm the south and allow citizens living there to get up in the morning and be able to send their kids to summer school," he stated. 

"We will do this with strength and power, but part of having power means you act in the right way and not just according to the voices shouting from the crowd," he added. 

Several ministers and MKs have called for Israel to retake or attack Gaza and institute a "zero tolerance" policy against terrorism over the weekend, amid the massive rocket assault from the terrorist enclave.

Lapid also emphasized that Hamas is "weaker than ever," despite the ongoing barrage of rockets on Israel. 

"They need to examine all possible scenarios in case they fail," Lapid insisted. "They are so weak that they know that no one - not even them - is immune nowadays [from failure]." 

The IDF launched Operation Protective Edge late Monday, taking out fifty terror targets and conducting airstrikes on the homes of several Hamas leaders after over 85 rockets were fired into Israel in a 12-hour period.