Israel says 2014 assault in Gaza disproportionate

Jerusalem March 23 (IANS) Israel s military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said on Wednesday that Israel s offensive in the Gaza Strip in 2014 was disproportionate.

The Israel Defence Forces employ a policy of using aggressive and disproportionate force to prevent situations in which they fire rockets at us and we return shells Eisenkot told a Knesset committee.

He said Israel will continue to react proportionally to any rocket fire.

For us there is one address in the strip: Hamas he said. Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist organization that controls the besieged enclave.

On July 8 2014 Israel launched a 51-day-long military campaign in Gaza citing rocket fire from the strip. The war claimed the lives of at least 2 251 Palestinians mostly civilians and 67 Israeli soldiers five civilians and a Thai civilian.

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