The 48th day of the Gaza War was marked by the threats of Israeli ministers to assassinate Hamas leaders and warnings to Gaza residents to evacuate their homes because of “terrorist activities”.

Unable to break the Gazan leadership despite weeks of airstrikes and ground operations, Israel found success last week — soon after the breakdown of the last temporary ceasefire — with the triple assassination of Hamas military commanders in southern Gaza. An airstrike on the home of Hamas military commander Mohammad Deif failed to kill him, but left his wife and infant son dead.

Visiting a kibbutz in southern Israel where a four-year-old boy was killed on Friday, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett warned, “Everyone involved in terror must know that he has an expiration date on his forehead.”

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon promised:

Even when they are hiding out among women and children…we know how to get to them.

If the heads of Hamas think they can wear us out… they are wrong. We’re not rushing anywhere. We have patience.

He said Israel will pound Gaza “for now from the air” but assured that it has “other ways” of accomplishing its objectives.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed to the expansion of Israeli operations:

I call on Gaza residents to leave any location from which Hamas is conducting terror activities. Every such place is a target for us. We have seen in recent days that there isn’t, and won’t be, any immunity for someone who fires on the citizens of Israel.

Later in the day, an Israeli strike on a home killed a mother and her three children near Jabaliya. Also mong the day’s 16 Gazan deaths were those of a one-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy.

There were 35 Israeli airstrikes overnight.

The threats and airstrikes had little effect on Hamas’ resolve on Sunday. The Israeli military said 140 rockets were fired from Gaza, as Hamas political director Khaled Meshaal said:

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal tells Iranian TV that “resistance” is the only effective means to secure its demands from Israel, and rejects the option of returning to the negotiating table.

The negotiations did not succeed because Israel did not want to give a positive answer to the reasonable requests of the Palestinians. We know resistance is the only way to break free of the burden of the Zionist regime.