The Israeli military said on Saturday that a “large-scale terror attack” was thwarted as troops killed four Palestinians who attempted to infiltrate into Israel from the Gaza Strip, armed with AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, hunting knives, and bolt cutters. The IDF released a number of photos of the seized weapons.
The military said in a statement that the incident began at 4:00 a.m. Saturday as lookout troops spotted four figures heading toward the border fence “in military formation” from the direction of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Forces from the IDF’s Golani Brigade were alerted of the infiltration attempt and made their way to the area, the IDF said.
The four Gazans were killed by Israeli soldiers who “opened fire once one of the terrorists scaled the fence,” the military said in an initial statement, adding that a hand grenade was launched at the troops during the clash but none of the soldiers were injured.
AFP earlier reported that an army spokeswoman told the French news agency that troops “opened fire after one of the terrorists scaled the barrier and hurled a grenade at the soldiers.”
“One of the terrorists crossed into our territory and was shot, and three were killed along the concrete barrier at point-blank range,” the IDF added later Saturday. An IDF tank also fired a cannon shot into the vicinity of the infiltration attempt.
The Gazan cell was armed with “Kalashnikov [AK-47] weapons, bags filled with equipment for cutting the fence, energy bars and dates for the possibility of a prolonged stay [on Israeli soil], grenades, and pipe bombs,” according to the military statement. The Palestinians were wearing improvised fatigues and had a medical box among their belongings.
“A large-scale terror attack was foiled here. It is not clear if the attack was intended to hurt soldiers or civilians, but a major attack has been thwarted,” said IDF spokesperson Brigadier General Ronen Manelis.
Manelis added that the cell’s preparedness and the amount of equipment and weaponry it carried, showed that there was a carefully prepared operation in motion.
The IDF said it holds terror group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, responsible. “The expectation is that Hamas will control events [in the Strip] and prevent them; it is therefore responsible for whatever happens in the Gaza Strip in these aspects,” the military said.
Israeli forces attacked a Hamas outpost near Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip early Saturday morning.
Gunfire was also heard around the Israeli border community of Kissufim, according to a report from Sky News Arabic.
Palestinian terrorists had attacked Israeli soldiers with grenades while trying to breach the border fence and had likely been killed in the attempt, Channel 13 reported. Israeli aircraft struck multiple Hamas sites in response, the report said.
There were no reports of Israeli injuries.
דיווח: צה"ל תקף ברצועת עזה בתגובה לזריקת רימונים • @OrHeller עם הידיעה המלאה >> https://t.co/7vCOaqJB4N(צילום: ידיעות מהשטח טלגרם) pic.twitter.com/Qfl8nkhQVa— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) August 10, 2019
The outburst of violence comes as tensions skyrocket in the West Bank after terrorists stabbed to death 18-year-old Dvir Sorek outside the settlement of Migdal Oz. His body was found in the predawn hours Thursday outside the settlement where he was studying.
Israeli security forces arrested a suspect on Friday during searches for the killers, according to Palestinian reports.
Soldiers also reportedly confiscated the car of a suspect, a resident of the Palestinian village of Beit Fajjar, near Migdal Oz, over suspicions it was used in Wednesday’s attack.
The Ynet news site said that Israeli security forces apparently knew the identity of the killer or killers.
There was no confirmation of the arrest from the army, which said in a statement the manhunt for the terrorists was ongoing.
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