The price for not finishing the war.

Exactly one year ago, on July 8, 2014, the IDF launched Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip to stop incessant rocket fire aimed at southern Israel and to destroy Hamas’ network of underground tunnels dug under the Israel-Gaza border to facilitate terror attacks against Israeli citizens [Jews].

The IDF’s Southern Command said last summer’s operation in Gaza was the biggest and most significant Israel has ever fought against the [terrorists] in general and in the Strip in particular.

At the end of Operation Protective Edge, Army Intelligence estimated that over two-thirds of Hamas’ rockets were destroyed in the fighting. A source in the Southern Command said Tuesday that Hamas has yet to restore its rockets stock to what it was before the war, but that it was getting closer to doing so.

“Hamas is getting closer to finishing restoring its stock of mortar shells and short-range rockets,” the official said. “They don’t yet have the amount of medium- and long-range rockets (that can reach Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and further north) it had. Hamas will not give up the ability to fire rockets deep into Israel in the next war, because to them, a routine of sirens and emergency situation in Tel Aviv is an achievement.”

The source said Hamas has also started digging tunnels inside the Strip again, but, “Hamas is not re-digging the tunnels we destroyed – digging such cross-border tunnels could take years. Hamas is nowhere near the border fence.”

[Ynet]