Shin Bet Chief: We Must Increase Our Presence in Gaza

Source: Al-Manar TV, 22-7-2008
Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin on Tuesday warned that Hamas has been bolstering in military strength in the Gaza Strip, and has developed missiles capable of reaching past the northern Negev town of Kiryat Gat.
Diskin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and War Committee that "Israeli" security forces must demonstrate "field presence" against the growing threat.
He reiterated his opposition to the cease-fire agreement in the Strip and claimed that Hamas was exploiting the terms of the truce to arm itself and the territory.
The Shin Bet chief pointed to the drop in number of attacks in the West Bank, as a result of the security fence and the increased presence of "Israeli" occupation forces, and said the same tactics must be used in Gaza. Diskin delivered a similar assessment to ministers in late May.
Palestinian resistance fighters have been firing Qassam rockets and mortar shells at the Negev town of Sderot, some 5 kilometers from the Gaza border, for the past seven years. Recently, however, they have been able to reach Ashkelon, some 12 km away. Diskin's assessment is that they have now doubled their range.
In response to Diskin's warning, committee member MK Limor Livnat told Haaretz: These words speak like a thousand testimonies to the government's complete failure in defending its settlers.
"A government that does not listen to the head of the Shin Bet and instead focuses on conflicts between the prime minister, the foreign minister and the war minister needs to go home," she added.