Peres: Negev attack shows Gaza turned into terror state

Ehud Barak says Hamas responsible for all attacks emanating from the Strip; Netanyahu in Germany: Israel won't tolerate terrorism.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS
Peres with Congressmen 311 (photo credit: Mark Neiman/GPO)
Peres with Congressmen 311
(photo credit: Mark Neiman/GPO)
President Shimon Peres on Thursday responded to the terrorist attack on a bus in the Negev, saying "I have just been informed that an Israeli bus carrying students from school was hit by a missile fired from Gaza. Reports are emerging of injured children. This is another clear example of Gaza's transformation into a terror state. Is the UN able to guarantee that acts of terrorism will not happen?"
"None of you would give up on the security of your country, and Israel will also defend itself," Peres told UN Security Council ambassadors during a visit to New York.
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Earlier, Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the IDF to respond speedily and with every means necessary to the attack on Thursday afternoon which left two Israelis injured.
Shortly after the statement was issued, an IAF helicopter machine-gunned targets in the Strip, for the first time since Operation Cast Lead.
In a statement, Barak added that he holds Hamas as responsible for all events and attacks emanating from the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was briefed on the attack during his state visit to Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
He said that Israel would not tolerate attacks from terrorist organizations, Israel Radio reported.
Palestinian terrorists in the Strip fired an anti-tank missile which landed near a school bus outside Kibbutz Saad in the Negev. Magen David Adom paramedics were attempting to revive a 16-year-old boy who was on the bus, and the bus driver was also seriously injured.
Additional mortars were fired at the area. Residents have been instructed to stay inside buildings.