JERUSALEM, May 20 (UPI) -- Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman Sunday called for decisive action in the Gaza Strip, calling the present situation a "moment of truth."
Lieberman, who is also Israel's Minister for Strategic Affairs, said the current tension in the region has reached a point where either the Palestinian government or the Hamas organization should be dismantled, Ynetnews reported.
"The present coalition has reached the moment of truth," Lieberman said. "Either we dismantle Hamas, or we dismantle the government."
"It's time to stop making bombastic statements, it's time for hard action," he added.
Lieberman's comments came the same day as a meeting of the Israeli Cabinet at which Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Hamas had gained control of the Gaza conflict.
"Hamas is proving its clear upper-hand in this conflict," Peretz told Cabinet officials Sunday, "killing innocents, taking the law into their own hands, the embodiment of anarchy -- there is no rule of law."
He added that Israel has no intention of becoming embroiled in the deadly Palestinian conflict, Ynetnews said.
