Israel has threatened to escalate its deadly attacks against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli siege for many years.Israeli Minister for Military Affairs Ehud Barak said on Wednesday that more Gazans are going to suffer because of the rockets fired from the territory into Israel. "Hamas will receive its punishment for what has happened here," said Barak, referring to the Palestinian resistance movement which governs Gaza."If they cannot be calmed, and the rockets continue,” the Israeli military will respond, Barak said. Since Tuesday night, at least four Palestinians have been killed and several others injured in the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Palestinian resistance groups have been firing the rockets in retaliation for Tel Aviv’s deadly raids on the coastal enclave. He also said no “element responsible for causing damage in Israel or to Israelis will be spared." Gaza has been blockaded since June 2007, a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty. The apartheid regime of Israel denies about 1.7 million people in Gaza their basic rights, such as freedom of movement, jobs that pay proper wages, and adequate healthcare and education. Israel’s US-funded Iron Dome system has failed to intercept many of the projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip. On July 27, US President Barack Obama signed a piece of legislation ratified by Congress that had Israel another $70 million in military assistance, on top of the $3 billion the United States had already pledged to provide to the Israeli military this year. Obama signed the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012, which provides more US taxpayer dollars to help Israel expand its Iron Dome short-range missile system.