IDF: Terrorists trying to infiltrate from Gaza used fog for cover, were spotted by surveillance officers

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

The attempted infiltration on the Gaza border began this morning at around 4 a.m., when soldiers monitoring surveillance cameras spotted suspicious movement amid foggy weather, according to an initial IDF probe.

Troops of the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion were dispatched to the scene, in Gaza, just across from the Israeli border communities of Kerem Shalom and Holit, to search for the suspects.

At around 5 a.m., the soldiers came under fire by the cell, around 400 meters from the Israeli border. Moments later, two of the gunmen were killed in a drone strike, and a short time after that, a third was killed by tank shelling, the IDF says.

The cell was armed with assault rifles and RPGs, according to the probe.

A possible fourth gunman fled the area, though the IDF was still investigating this.

The IDF was also investigating how the gunmen reached the border area, where they were detected.

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