IDF estimates Hamas will continue rocket fire in coming days

'We are preparing for the possibility that Hamas didn't get the message and that we'll be forced to resume the offensive and perhaps intensify it,' source close to Defense Minister Barak says
Roni Sofer

While Israel's unilateral ceasefire in Gaza went into effect at 2 am Sunday, the security establishment estimates Hamas will continue to fire rockets and mortars toward the country's southern region in the coming days to prove that they "have the "last word in the conflict.

Earlier Defense Minister Ehud Barak told reporters that IDF forces will remain deployed in Gaza.

"We are holding our fire, but will remain vigilant," he said, "we've met our military objectives and are now holding our fire, but Hamas may fire at the forces and the home front. The army will remain deployed in Gaza and is prepared to continue and even expand the operation if needed. Israel's citizens must also be prepared."

Senior Hamas figures have already declared that the Islamist group will not be laying down its arms just yet.

Group spokesman Fauzi Barhoum said that "a unilateral ceasefire does not mean an end to the aggression and siege, which also constitute components of war. Therefore, this means the resistance is not over yet," while Hamas representative in Lebanon Osama Hamadan said that "If the Israeli military continues its existence in the Gaza Strip, this is a wide door for the resistance against the occupation forces."

Israeli military officials have postulated that Hamas will hold its fire within three days

This is what I have been afraid of, Israel stopping the job before it really achieved anything.

On the other hand if it would take 500,000 Palestinian dead to stop the rockets this would be a moral war and one that I would support.