Former Israeli army chief says country 'must coordinate with Hamas'

Israel should be in communication with Hamas, said the former chief of the Israeli army.

"I don't see a problem with cooperation with Hamas," Yair Golan told The Jerusalem Post, saying cooperation can stabilise Israeli security.

"Israel should ask itself what is our main purpose? And that is to stabilise the security situation. And the best way to do it is by having some sort of cooperation with Hamas and some sort of mutual interest with Hamas," he urged.

"We need diplomatic, economic, and commercial measures and other elements that we can work with to stabilise the situation."

He said this is the duty of the Israeli government and not the army and only when Tel Aviv has "used all the civilian and peaceful measures" the government can "military force in the most decisive way".

His remarks come after the Israeli government threatened violence against Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip.

During a trip to Ukraine, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel would "would not hesitate" to conduct a military operation against the besieged territory in response to three rockets being fired from Gaza at southern Israel.

On Monday, an Israeli minister said that his cabinet is planning a "widespread operation" on the besieged Palestinian enclave Gaza, which has suffered a number of bloody assaults in recent years.

The Netanyahu government is ramping up pressure on the already beleaguered Palestinian territories and has most recently refused to allow Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar into the country.

On Friday, 63 Palestinians, including 17 children, were injured by Israeli bullets and tear gas at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.