Asked about that decision, Peres told Fox News, “You’re right. It is a very difficult decision and it’s very painful. But, according to our set of values and to our way of life " the life of a single person is worth the whole world. We take care of every individual as though he would be the collective sum of many people.”

Peres also said Sunday that Israel will "reply immediately" if attacked by Hamas " one day after after Israel Air Force planes bombed a tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip in response to a Qassam rocket fired by Palestinian militants into an Israeli town early Saturday.

"They know immediately there will be retaliation," he said. "There is an unwritten game between us and them. They know if they won’t respect it, they will pay heavily.”