Chief of Staff Kochavi: ‘Escalation in the South Because of Jerusalem’

On a tour of the Gaza Strip today, Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, who in light of the security developments canceled his planned trip to the U.S. for a visit that was supposed to be his first there as chief of staff, spoke with the heads of the local authorities.

“There has been a lot of deliberation on how to respond to the firing from Gaza. In a nutshell, both in Israel and in Gaza there is currently no interest in escalating the situation.” He did add that “the IDF is prepared to respond forcefully, if and when required.”