Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, who was head of the Defense Ministry's political-security department for many years, estimates that the punitive measures taken by the heads of the defense establishment in Gaza are only the beginning of a broader process.
"The test is that our residents will live quietly. The arson attacks are hurting the state, and you use all means. On the one hand, you do not want to get involved with a confrontation, but you signal that if you need to, you will enter it," Gilad said in an interview with Noam Zigman on Kol Baramah..
He added that "If that does not work, I'm sure they will take more severe steps and this could lead to a deterioration. In the meantime, [Hamas terrorists] are reading in our newspapers that there are internal disagreements, that we’re not serious, that the kites are not terror. If we are unambiguous, it will have more influence," he said.
He said it was necessary to understand how much the Gaza government was responsible for fires in Israeli territory. "Hamas is the one behind the whole story, we only see the children who fire balloons, and it happens deliberately."
He admits that the treatment of the arson attacks may have begun too late. “The arsons have to be stopped, and maybe they are dealing with this too late. The closure of the [Kerem Shalom] crossing itself will not create deterrence. It is significant, though, in that it harms the pretension of Hamas to be leader of the Gaza Strip. "