Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the southern city of Ashkelon on Monday, where he praised last week’s “Operation Shield and Arrow” against Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.
“I have come to Ashkelon today to be here with the mayor, my friend Tomer Glam, and with the marvelous residents. We changed the deterrence equation and have come today to change the protection equation. We visited a home and we saw the protected spaces. We saw what needs to be done and we are going to do it,” said Netanyahu.
“Another thing that we came to do is to sit in the sun at the wonderful marina and genuinely enjoy, together with the residents of Ashkelon, the quiet that we have achieved and which will continue. Thank you, residents of Ashkelon, for your support, for your backing, because without you it would not have been possible to do anything, and with you it will be possible to do everything,” added the premier.
The visit came after Israel and the Iranian-sponsored PIJ terrorist group reached a ceasefire deal on Saturday night to end five days of fighting. During the conflict, PIJ fired nearly 1,500 rockets towards the Jewish state, to which the IDF responded by striking some 400 terror sites in Gaza.
“I would like to thank the prime minister for his important visit in Ashkelon today, after the end of ‘Operation Shield and Arrow.’ We presented to him the gaps in protection in the older neighborhoods, which do not allow residents the basic right of protecting themselves in times of emergency,” said Glam.