Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz spoke about the recent rocket attacks on Israel and his visit to Israeli communities near the Gaza border.
"This is my second time in the communities surrounding Gaza this week," he said. "I am arriving here for the second time following the possibility of an alarming and serious security escalation."
"What we have seen here in front of us, in the past few months, weeks, days and definitely in the past 24 hours is the loss of Israeli deterrence.
"Our deterrence has been worn down and beaten up. We see that it is no longer Israel setting the agenda, but instead, it is [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar and other factors inside Gaza.
"We have to take the initiative back into our hands. We have to adopt a strict, stern and continuous policy against Hamas, in a way that will ensure it will actively, and out of its own will choose to return to a period of calm, the same one we had here during the three and half years that followed Operation Protective Edge.
"When calm is achieved you don't just quietly sit and waste three and a half years, doing absolutely nothing. You must advance matters through other channels.
"First you need to show strength. First you need to rebuild your deterrence. First you need to achieve complete calm in the communities.
"During this past week, we met wonderful people here. Wonderful people who work the land, wonderful people who develop the local infrastructure, wonderful people taking in and welcoming new members to their communities, standing here bravely, only asking for some backup.
"This is true for the people here, those in Kiryat Gat and those in Tel Aviv. This is true for all people across Israel. What we have seen here is the loss of our way in security.We have to restore it. Immediately."