Hamas plotting new attacks from Sinai, IDF says

But new fence and improved security enable reopening of border road where August terror attack occurred

By ToI Staff 23 February 2012, 7:01 pm

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Israeli infrastructure work on the Egyptian border fence (photo credit: Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)

Israel has dramatically boosted security along its border with Egypt since a terror cell killed eight Israelis in an infiltration last August, military officials said Thursday.

Nonetheless, they cautioned, Hamas and other terror groups are exploiting the post-Mubarak disarray in the Egyptian-controlled Sinai to smuggle more terrorists into the area, and they are engaged in planning further attacks, the officials said, during a briefing for reporters in the area.

Close to 100 kilometers of border fencing have been erected since the attack, and the entire border will be properly fenced off by the summer, they added.

Eight Israelis and eight terrorists were killed in the August 18 attack, on Highway 12 north of Eilat. There were reports of at least two more gunmen killed on the Egyptian side of the border.

Highway 12, the border road where the attack took place, is set to be reopened early next week. The level of security protection in the area is now “greatly improved,” Brig.-Gen. Nadav Padan said.