Brigadier General Ronen Manelis said that the period of relative peace on Israel’s southern border since the end of the 2014 Operation Protective Edge has been the most peaceful the area has seen since Biblical times.

“The past three years have been the quietest years in Gaza since the days of Samson the hero,” Manelis, an IDF spokesman, said in an interview with Walla! News.

Manelis’ Biblical reference to the period of Samson described in in the Book of Judges was not a particularly peaceful time. Samson, a Jewish Biblical hero and judge, was defeated by the Philistines and taken as a captive to Gaza where he died by collapsing a Philistine Temple on himself in an effort to kill his captors.

The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Azza and shackled him in bronze fetters, and he became a mill slave in the prison. Judges 16:21

“The fact that Hamas has been deterred testifies to the ability of the IDF is improving all the time,” Manelis continued. “Hamas rightfully chooses not to worsen the situation, but on the other hand there is a constant security challenge in the Gaza Strip.”

“We are operating against a terror organization and need to constantly exhibit strength as a deterrence. For example against the tunnels that they attempt to dig infiltrating our territory. We use a necessary level of force but the goal is not to be dragged into war. Israel has an interest in the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, while at the same time protecting our security situation.”