‘Our patience is gone, Israel will respond harshly,’ IDF warns Gaza rioters

“The IDF will not show restraint. Whoever comes within 100 meters of the fence is putting himself at risk,” a top IDF general warned in an Arabic language video released on Thursday.

By TPS

The IDF will not show restraint against protestors on the Gaza border, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun said in an Arabic-language video released on Thursday evening.

The video was directed at any Gazans that plan on taking part in weekly Friday riots labeled “The Great March of Return.”

“Our patience is gone. The IDF will not show restraint,” said Abu Rukun, “whoever comes within 100 meters of the fence is putting himself at risk. You’ve been warned,” he added.

The warning came amid criticism within Israel of the a ceasefire agreement with Hamas earlier this week that followed 48 hours of clashes that saw the Palestinian factions fire over 450 rockets at Israel, killing one person and seriously wounding three.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman officially submitted his resignation earlier Thursday in protest at the ceasefire agreement and the crisis is threatening to topple Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government which now sits on a razor-thin 61 seat majority in the 120 member Knesset.

Hundreds of residents of Israel’s Gaza Belt towns protested the ceasefire agreement outside of IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, blocking roads and holding up signs that read “we are not second class citizens.”

The protests took place as Netanyahu met with Gaza Belt municipal authority heads in order to clarify his position following the public criticism directed at Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, who earlier on Thursday said that rockets fired at the Gaza Belt are not just cause for a full-scale military operation in Gaza.