Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures during a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, April 14, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun / File.

In the aftermath of this weekend’s violent flare-up in the south, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted on Monday that Israel had “changed the rules of the game, and Hamas knows this very well.”

“It is clear that this is not the end of the battle, and therefore I ordered preparations for the continuation, [including] keeping armored and artillery forces around the Gaza Strip,” the prime minister said.

Netanyahu on Monday visited Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where he met with Israelis wounded in the Hamas and Islamic Jihad rocket barrages of recent days.

The Israeli leader also took part in an IDF Southern Command security assessment.

“In the last two days, we renewed the policy of assassinating senior terror officials, killed dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists and destroyed terror towers,” Netanyahu stated.

“I want to praise the residents of the south for their resoluteness, and IDF commanders and soldiers and commanders for their decisive actions,” he added.

The latest round of Gaza violence — in which more than 600 rockets were fired into southern Israel, killing four Israeli civilians — came to end early Monday morning when a ceasefire brokered by Egypt and the UN went into effect.