IDF operation in Gaza achieved 'very important' results

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip had achieved "very important results" in the fight against the manufacture and firing of Kassam rockets and mortar shells. Speaking during a visit to a Navy base in Haifa, Barak added that IDF troops had been operating in Gaza every night to allow Israelis to celebrate the Hanukka festival in peace. Barak said that the Navy had learned the lessons from the "painful" missile attack by Hizbullah on the INS Hanit stationed off the Lebanese coast during the Second Lebanon War, Israel Radio reported.