The Israeli military deployed additional Iron Dome air defense batteries, as well as infantry reinforcements, to southern Israel on Monday, following deadly clashes with the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip the night before in which an IDF officer was killed, along with seven Palestinian terrorists.
“The Israel Defense Forces reinforced its troops in the Southern Command and is prepared to use large amounts of force if necessary,” the army said in a statement Monday.
Additional Iron Dome batteries were deployed in the south. The advanced air defense system shot down three projectiles of the 17 that were fired at Israel from Gaza on Sunday night. The other rockets and mortar shells were likely not intercepted as they were heading for open fields, not populated areas.
In addition, infantry battalions from the Givati Brigade were sent to the Gaza area as reinforcements, taking them out of their regular training schedule.
Though clashes between Israel and Hamas ended shortly after 1 a.m. Monday, the military remained on high alert out of concern for reprisals by the Gaza-ruling terror group, which said “the blood of our righteous martyrs will not be wasted.”
On Sunday night, an IDF special forces unit entered the Gaza Strip on what the Israeli military says was an intelligence-gathering mission.
Most details of the special forces operation in Gaza could not be published by order of the military censor.
At some point during the raid, the troops were discovered by Hamas members and a firefight broke out, according to Palestinian accounts.
The Israeli team called in aerial support, which provided cover fire to the soldiers as they made their way out of the coastal enclave.
A lieutenant colonel in the special forces unit, who for security reasons could only be identified by the first Hebrew letter of his name, “Mem,” was killed in the clash. A second officer was injured and taken to Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center in moderate, stable condition.
He regained full consciousness on Monday morning, following a number of surgeries throughout the night, the hospital said.
At least seven Palestinian terrorists were killed in the firefight and airstrikes, including a senior Hamas commander, according to Palestinian officials. Another seven people were injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
Following the initial clashes, Palestinian terrorists launched at least 17 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel, one of which caused light damage to a chicken coop in the southern Eshkol region, but no injuries.
According to Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades commander Nour Baraka was killed along with six other Palestinian terrorists by Israeli special forces who drove a “civilian vehicle” three kilometers into Gaza from the borde,r or by the ensuing Israeli airstrikes.
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