JERUSALEM, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Israel should consider the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rocket fire on Southern Israel overnight Monday, said Israel's former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman.
"Hamas has no intention to reconcile with a Jewish presence in Israel," Lieberman said. "So we need to return to the Gaza Strip and conduct a thorough cleaning," Lieberman said in an interview with Israel Radio.
If Israel does not respond in a "significant" way, Hamas will have hundreds of missiles "aimed at Tel Aviv," warned Lieberman, who currently heads the Knesset's (parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee.
He added that he does not represent the views of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the defense minister.
Six rockets were launched towards southern Israel from the Palestinian coastal enclave and the Israeli Air Force responded by airstrikes against two weapons storage facilities, a military spokesperson said, adding that no injuries were reported.
Responding to Lieberman's harsh statements, a senior source in Jerusalem told the Walla! News website these statements are " reckless."
"These kind of redundant statements don't contribute to anything. If there is a need to operate in the strip, it's not something we would broadcast in the morning news on the Radio," it said.
The Gaza Strip enclave was ruled by Egypt until Israel's annexation of it in 1967. Former prime minister Ariel Sharon carried out the "disengagement" plan in 2005, evacuating the strip from settlements and Israeli military forces.
In 2007 the Palestinian militant Hamas Group took over the enclave and established its own self-rule in it.
Over the years, the launching of missiles from the strip towards southern Israel has been intensified.
However, since Operation Pillar of Defense concluded, there has been a relative calm in Israel's south with merely 20 rockets and mortars launched at the Strip.
Childhood in an isolated sterile room
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