IDF patrol comes under anti-tank fire along Gaza border

Palestinians fired an anti-tank missile at an IDF unit Monday morning as it patrolled along the border with the Gaza Strip, the army said. The soldiers also came under small arms fire. There were no injuries, and soldiers returned fire.

“An IDF patrol was attacked along the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip,” the army said in a statement. “Initial indications suggest they were attacked with an RPG anti-tank missile and firearm[s]. No injuries are currently reported.”

The attack came amid a sharp escalation in violence in the south in recent days.

Earlier Monday, an IDF soldier was lightly wounded by shrapnel in his legs and back when Gaza Palestinians fired two rockets at the Eshkol region. The soldier was taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba for medical treatment. Vehicles close to the impact site were damaged.

Nine members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad were killed overnight Sunday, according to Palestinian sources, when Israeli jets struck 14 sites in Gaza Strip, after a day of near-constant rocket fire on Israeli towns near the Palestinian enclave.

The targets were “terror sites and concealed rocket launchers,” the IDF spokesman’s office said, confirming direct hits on the targets.

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Seven Hamas members were killed and six wounded in an air force strike, according to a statement released by the terror group. Israeli defense officials, however, said that the men were not killed in an airstrike but were rather crushed when a tunnel collapsed on top of them.

Earlier, two members of Islamic Jihad’s armed wing were reported killed when Israeli planes struck the refugee camp of al Bureij in the central Strip, targeting a rocket launching crew.

Some 25 rockets were fired at Israel over the course of Sunday, most of which landed in open areas.

Lazar Berman contributed to this report.