Haim Yellin
Haim YellinEliran Aharon

"I went to bed at about 12:30 AM, and within an hour I was already awakened by the noise of the IDF's response," MK Haim Yellin (Yesh Atid), who lives near Gaza, told Arutz Sheva, describing his experience of Israeli air strikes on Gaza early this morning.

"At first I was sure it was flares, like they know how to do when there’s fear of an infiltration. I tried to go back to sleep. Around three o'clock - the first code red alarm, and then at four or five, there was a code red across almost the entire region."

"We have to understand one thing, Hamas wants to dictate a new equation to the State of Israel and to the cabinet. They say that the tens of thousands of dunams that were burned because of kites and balloons are not terrorism. The cabinet made a decision that it is terror, and I hope that this is not a one-time decision.”

Are you disappointed with the conduct of the cabinet?

"I am disappointed that only after 81 days do you make the decision, because there was no reason in the world not to bomb their bases. I understand that as long as the kites and balloons have not been legally declared as weapons, you can’t hit those launching them. But what prevents a tactical decision to come and hit bases and factories that produce the missiles? After all, with the [terror] tunnels we don’t have to wait for anybody.”

"I am offended in the name of the state that we are not beating them to a pulp. We have to launch a two-pronged attack: one attack against Hamas' military wing, and simultaneously to sit with mediators for a discussion with Hamas' political wing."

You're talking about stepping things up a notch, what does this mean for you as residents?

"I invite you to my home every day at 4 PM. You will come to me with the car, we will extinguish fires and you will understand exactly what is happening in our area. Everything is burned.”

Yellin argues that a strategic decision must be made regarding Gaza. "Once we make a decision, we will defeat Hamas. We must hit the Hamas leaders, blow up their homes so that they will not have a place to return to," he said. “In parallel, we must draft the whole world to bring about a situation in which, within three years, the situation in Gaza has improved.”

Isn’t that what we said after the Disengagement?

"I can tell you looking back from a historical perspective, that we learned then that we are not giving a grain of sand to anyone, without international agreements and guarantees."

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