‘It's time to defeat Hamas’: Israeli minister speaks to RT after Gaza rocket fire (VIDEO)

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has blamed Hamas for firing two rockets into Israel, which triggered alarms near Tel Aviv. He told RT that it was time for Israel to retaliate against the “radical Islamic terror state.”

While both the Hamas military wing and the hardline militants from Islamic Jihad denied responsibility for the latest rocket fire that hit Israeli territory on Thursday, Bennett has called to force the militants out of the Gaza Strip.

“Hamas has been shooting rockets at the southern part of Israel for roughly a year now and now they shot two rockets at the Tel Aviv area. It's time to defeat Hamas, it's time to demilitarize the Gaza Strip,” he told RT.

Bennett blamed Arabs for turning Gaza into a failed state, to which Israel now must retaliate.

“When we handed it over to the Arabs, they turned it into a radical Islamic terror state and now it's time to fight back against that state and we will.”

The minister dismissed as “utter nonsense” the argument that both sides have been equally responsible for the violence that is raging in the region.

“We left Gaza. We want peace. The moment they stop shooting missiles at my children's school and kindergarten is the moment there will be peace.”

Bennett, who is a member of the Israeli Security Cabinet and a proponent of his own version of a one-state solution, also brushed off international calls for Israel to stop its rampant settlement construction.

“As long as it's up to me, I would build for Jews anywhere in Israel, because this is our home. I would build much more Jewish communities within our land.”

Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement controlling Gaza, and Israel have been locked in a violent confrontation for years. Israel calls Hamas terrorists, whose continued influence and attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians justifies whatever military action Israel choses to inflict on Palestinian territory. The militants pose as a guerrilla force fighting for the liberation of Palestinian lands and people from Israeli occupation and oppression by whatever means they deem necessary.

The situation surrounding Gaza has been tense since last year, when Palestinians began regular protests, which occasionally escalate into riots, on the wall that Israel built to separate the area. Israel is accused of using excessive force against the protesters, with dozens of people killed and hundreds injured by snipers. The Israelis insist that the protests are a ploy by Hamas to give cover to attacks on Israel and undermine the Jewish nation’s reputation.

WATCH the full interview below.

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