https://freebeacon.com/blog/hamas-israel-military-confrontation-looks-likely/
Since March, Israel and Hamas have been in a war of attrition that neither wants to escalate into a full-blown confrontation. Ironically, that is exactly where things are leading. Netanyahu just announced the cancellation of his visit to Colombia due to tension in the south.
Incendiary kites and balloons not only light up thousands of acres of Israeli crops and forests, but also Israeli television screens. During the periodic rocket barrage, the last one two weeks ago, Israelis are also treated to the sight of families huddling in bomb shelters.
This week marked a shift in tone from southern residents who so far have shown remarkable patience. Their regional representatives took to the airwaves to say that the Army must do more. Adding an exclamation point to their anger was news that a balloon bomb made it as far as the city of Beersheva—a distance of 30 miles, raising fears about just how far these aerial attacks can go. (The balloons were filled with helium, which Israel allowed into the Gaza Strip for medical purposes.)
Their frustration is fueled by the unfulfilled threats of Israeli government leaders. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said on a July 3 tour of the area: “A kite at the Gaza envelope should be treated like a rocket on Ashkelon.” On July 14, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said, “Restraint creates escalation … The IDF must be ordered to act with force, sophistication, and thoroughness.” On July 20, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, speaking in the southern town of Sderot, repeated warnings he had made months earlier: “If they continue pushing us to a wide-scale operation, then we will have a large-scale operation, on a wider scale and more debilitating than Operation Protective Edge,” referring to the 2014 IDF action that earned the south three and a half years of relative quiet.
On Thursday, for the second time Lieberman ordered the Kerem-Shalom border crossing closed to gas shipments. In May, he had ordered the crossing closed for an “indefinite” period only to reopen it six weeks later. To close it and open it and close it again so quickly re-enforces the feeling of Israelis that the government’s response has been tepid.