Leaders of major political parties were swift to swing political punches hours after Hamas killed one solider and wounded three others, one seriously, in a bombing of a patrol at the Gaza separation barrier. Hamas escalated the ceasefire violation with a mortar attack on the western Negev, causing no injuries or damage.
The attack near the Kisufim crossing occurred a day before United States Middle East envoy Sen. George C. Mitchell was to meet with Israeli government leaders. Mitchell arrived in Cairo Tuesday afternoon.
It also coincided with a visit by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to soldiers at the Tze'elim training center, near the scene of the attack. He called the fatal incident "serious" and threatened Hamas that "we will respond" but declined to spell out specific action or timing. "Those who don’t know how to defend themselves will not get a second chance," he commented.
Barak also took the opportunity to claim success in the Second Lebanon War. "In my estimation, we are on our way to a period that they [Hamas] will remember very well, like Hizbullah remembers the blow it absorbed in Lebanon two-and-a-half years ago," the Defense Minister added.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, lagging behind the Likud in pre-election polls, asserted, "As I said before the Gaza offensive, if we are attacked we must strike back. The way we conduct ourselves after the operation is just as important... This is a test of actions, not just of rhetoric. Changing the equation has to do not only with what we've already done, but with what we will do next."
Shas chairman Eli Yishai urged the government to immediately bomb Gaza, but Likud chairman Knesset Member Binyamin Netanyahu made no statement. Likud campaign spokeswoman Dina Libster said that he already warned that "we will meet Hamas again" and recalled his opposition to ending the Operation Cast Lead campaign terror in Gaza."
MK Yitzchak Aharonovitch of Israel Is Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu) stated, "The incident at Kisufim is a result of a successful military operation that was ended before its time by a failed political decision without a clear victory being decided. The response needs to be serious, determined, and painful."