Paet Condemns Rocket Attacks on Israeli Towns
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet expressed concern about the escalation of tensions between Israel and Palestine in the last week and said that the firing of rockets at Israeli towns and settlements is completely unacceptable.
Paet stated that Estonia condemns the firing of rockets at Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip. "Cities and towns shootings are completely unacceptable. The strained Israeli-Palestinian situation is very worrying and, unfortunately, in recent days the situation has not improved, but rather escalated," the minister said.
He added that both parties need to find a peaceful solution to the tensions. "We call on the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority to take all necessary measures to prevent a further escalation of the tense situation," Paet said.
Israel has launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip, in an operation called "Protective Edge" in an attempt to stop the firing of rockets into Israeli territory. According to the Israeli army, more than a hundred rockets were shot from Gaza Wednesday alone. Israel hit more than 300 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight in response.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled Wednesday that a ground operation will be launched soon, and Israel called up 40,000 reservists on Tuesday, even as it said it hoped its quick move to arrest Jewish extremists, charged with an apparent revenge killing of a Palestinian boy over the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, would lower the temperature. But the arrests have appeared to have done little to quiet the protests that have engulfed Israel and the West Bank in the week since the Palestinian's death.
Air sirens will have sounded in the central Israeli cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as well as in some northern cities, including at the Dimona nuclear reactor.
Israel's attacks on Gaza have killed and injured at least 35 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.