Netanyahu: Gaza offensive stopped too soon

Associated Press - February 4, 2009 11:03 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AP) - The front-runner for Israel's election next week, Benjamin Netanyahu, says Israel's offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza last month did not go far enough.

Netanyahu says the government stopped the operation before the military could halt Hamas arms smuggling through tunnels under the border with Egypt.

He told a security conference Wednesday that the government "did not allow the military to plug the hole in the south."

Netanyahu said in the end, there will be no choice but to topple the Hamas regime in Gaza. He said it is an extremist fanatic regime backed by the extremist fanatic government of Iran.