“HAMAS IS TURNING HOSPITALS INTO TERRORIST BASES”:

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin accused the Hamas terrorist organization this week of turning hospitals and other civilian buildings in the Gaza Strip into terror bases. Rivlin visited the headquarters of the Gaza Regional Division of the IDF on 21 Jan. 2018. He then toured the new neighborhood being built at Kibbutz Nirim. Rivlin received a briefing on the current challenges in the sector from high ranking military and security officials. "I am coming to you now from meetings with the security forces and from operational surveys," Rivlin said. "We fought for the houses, the kindergartens and the schools, the paths and the fields. It was a war for our existence and daily life." The president said that Israel remains at war with the Hamas terrorist organization which rules the Gaza Strip. "The mission of the State of Israel has not been completed. We are fighting a terrorist organization that is cruel, extremist, and murderous. It is a terrorist organization that devotes no thought to the future and well-being of Israel, the people of Gaza, and for whom "reconciliation" of one kind or another is only a step towards advancing the war.

"Hamas is cultivating terror bases in hospitals, mosques and schools, and continues to invest its energy in military armament, tunnel construction, and planning attacks against the State of Israel. We are not complacent. We know that the next battle, if imposed on us, will be different and harder than the previous one. But we are determined that when it comes, we will be ready and trained. We will surprise and not be surprised, and we will strike the enemy with a hard and cutting blow," added Rivlin. "The entire world must know and understand that the ones preventing the rehabilitation [of Gaza] is Hamas. Israel is the only entity in the region that transfers - regardless of the situation - the minimal needs to the residents so that they can maintain their well-being. Unfortunately, Hamas is exploiting the plight of Gaza's citizens and using the materials - which are sent to the Gaza Strip for the benefit of the lives of the residents - for terror purposes instead. (Arutz-7)