Meeting With Egypt's Intelligence Chief, Israeli Foreign Minister: We Will Not Tolerate Gaza Rocket Fire

Illustration of a rocket attack from Gaza. (Wikimedia Commons/paffairs_sanfrancisco)

JAKARTA - Israel will not tolerate any rocket fire directed at its territory from the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Most recently, last Monday a rocket from Gaza hit the southern city of Sderot.

This statement was made by Israeli Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid, during a meeting with Egypt's Intelligence Chief Abbad Kamel, in a meeting held in Tel Aviv last Thursday.

Last Monday, rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into the city of Sderot was intercepted by the Israeli military's Iron Dome defense system (IDF). Since that incident, there has been no further attack from either side.

"We will not tolerate Gaza's rocket fire against its citizens," Lapid told Kamel as quoted by The Jerusalem Post Thursday, August 19.

Egypt is working to broker a ceasefire between the IDF and Hamas. This includes holding indirect talks with both sides since the end of the 11-day Gaza war in May known as Operation Wall Guard.

Lapid and Kamel talked about the need to increase trade and expand Israel-Egypt relations through joint economic and civil projects in the fields of health, technology, agriculture, and energy.

They also talked about the role that relationship plays in ensuring regional stability.

The meeting comes at a time when Hamas has threatened renewed violence, except for the start of permits to disburse Qatari aid funds to families in need in Gaza, as well as Hamas employees who were suspended after the war last May.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Bennett does not want to send untraceable cash to the Gaza Strip. Israel has found alternative mechanisms to send funds to families in need but has yet to find an acceptable solution for Hamas salaries.

Kamel's meeting with Lapid followed a series of talks the intelligence chief had with top Palestinian officials in the West Bank and Israeli officials. Over in Israel with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

In Ramallah, Kamel met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian counterpart, Majed Faraj on Wednesday. Hussein al-Sheikh who heads the General Authority for Civil Affairs Minister of Information Nabil Abu Rudaineh also attended the meeting.