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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel remains steadfast in preventing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip against southern Israel.
"Our counter-terrorism policy can be summed up in one sentence: whoever attacks us, or intends to attack us, will bear the consequences," Netanyahu said at the outset of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.
The remark came shortly after an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip critically wounded a militant who the military alleged had been involved in recent rocket attacks against southern Israeli townships neighboring the Palestinian enclave.
The military said in a statement that Abdallah Kharti, 29, a senior member of the Popular Resistance Committee, a faction affiliated with global jihad, was behind numerous launchings of rockets towards Israel. 33 rockets had been fired from Gaza since the beginning of the year.
Medical sources in Gaza said the militant was critically wounded when hit by a missile fired from aircraft while riding a motorbike in central Gaza.
The strike, the third of its kind since January in which Israel targets a specific individual, came after a rocket was fired into the western Negev on Saturday, and three rockets were fired at the coastal city of Asheklon on Thursday. All the projectiles fell in open areas, and no injuries or damage were caused.
Responding to Sunday's strike, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Kharti had been heavily involved in rocket attacks, including rocket attacks against the Red Sea port of Eilat.
"We will act forcefully against anyone who harms or attempts to harm the state of Israel," Ya'alon said in a statement, adding, " We will pursue with determination every terror operative who tries to harm the security of Israelis, and we'll cause him to pay a very heavy price."
