Army disarms bombs near Gaza fence; cross-border fire reported

Israeli soldiers located and disarmed two improvised explosive devices near the security fence surrounding the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the army said.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group said that one of its fighters was lightly injured in by an Israeli tank attack at an “observation post” near where the IEDs were found.

The Gaza health ministry confirmed that a Palestinian man had been lightly injured by the Israeli military near Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, but it was not clear if it was directly related to the IED incident.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said the army was aware of the reports and was investigating the claim.

The IEDs were placed in an area close to the security fence where Gaza residents are not allowed to enter, but on the Palestinian side of the barrier.

It was not immediately clear when the explosives were placed, the army said.

The military said the IEDs were “planted in order to attack IDF forces operating on the border.”

Once the devices were disarmed, they were removed by the soldiers and handed over to investigators to determine their origin.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian media had reported Israeli troops and engineering vehicles operating on the Gaza side of the security fence.

Tensions between Israel and terrorist groups in Gaza have been running high recently, following a number of shooting and rocket attacks from the Strip against Israelis, and retaliatory airstrikes and shellings by the IDF.

On Thursday, Israeli troops operating near the Gaza security fence came under fire north of the Strip, in what was the third attack in four days. No soldiers were reported injured, but an army engineering vehicle was hit by gunfire, according to the Israel Defense Forces. The military responded to the attack by striking two Hamas positions in the northern Gaza Strip.

That exchange came less than a day after a rocket fired from the coastal enclave struck an open field south of the coastal city of Ashkelon, causing neither injury nor damage. The IDF did not immediately respond to the rocket attack with artillery shelling or airstrikes, as it has done in the past.

Last Monday, a rocket was launched from Gaza toward the Sha’ar Hanegev region, striking an open field. Hours later, Israeli Air Force jets bombed multiple targets in the Gaza Strip.