Blue and White leader Benny Gantz toured Sderot and the Gaza periphery Wednesday along with MKs Miki Haimovich, Orna Barbivay and Alon Schuster.
Gantz started the tour with a meeting with Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi and other council heads at the Sderot Operation Center.
"We mainly came to express sympathy and to hear you and listen. There is no substitute for a direct encounter with the local leadership. The envelope needs to be strengthened regularly, not only because there is a specific campaign. The front line of the state must be prioritized," said Gantz.
He expressed full support for the IDF's response to the rocket attacks from Gaza. "There is a consensus regarding the operational need and I fully back the State of Israel's action. Looking at the Gaza Strip broadly, the goal is to restore deterrence - the end of the campaign must be a very strong deterrent."
"When we have to fight we will fight and when we have to have good neighborly relations - we will do that too. Make no mistake - on the other side are terrorists and not Mother Teresa. They are deliberately firing missiles at territories that have civilian targets.
Gantz was asked about the unity talks in light of the military campaign and replied, "Since I entered politics there has been no speech in which I do not mention unity. I intend to stick to this. If there is a way to promote unity in the State of Israel, I will be the first to do so. All efforts to establish a unity government are being made. But there are many important things in the State of Israel: there are principles and values, there is law and there are democratic aspects. I do not propose to take a specific event and wrap the political question in it. Unity should serve more than a specific event, as serious and difficult as it is."