The Israel Defense Forces is on heightened alert, sending additional air defenses to southern Israel, ahead of the one-year anniversary of the killing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu al-Ata, out of concerns the terror group may mark the occasion with an attack.
In addition to the Iron Dome missile defense systems deployed to the south, flights into and out of Israel also appear to have been directed to use Ben Gurion International Airport’s northern paths, keeping them farther from the Gaza Strip.
These precautionary moves come a day before the anniversary of Abu al-Ata’s death on November 12, 2019, which sparked a fierce round of fighting known in the military as Operation Black Belt.
In this photo taken on October 21, 2016, Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror leader Baha Abu al-Ata attends a rally in Gaza City. (STR/AFP)
Abu al-Ata was killed, along with his wife, in a precision strike on the apartment in which he was staying in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, following months of preparation by the military.
— Judah Ari Gross
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