Officials pledge to seal gap in West Bank security fence

Defense officials tell cabinet ministers that the gaps in the West Bank security fence in the Tarkumiya-Meitar area, through which the two terrorists from yesterday’s deadly shooting in Tel Aviv are believed to have entered Israel, will be closed up in the near future.

The budget to seal the gaps has been approved, officials tell the security cabinet in a meeting this afternoon in Tel Aviv’s Hakirya complex. Work on the fence will begin on June 28, with forces on the seam line to be bolstered by additional troops in the meantime.

A Prime Minister’s Office statement notes that the cabinet approved several steps already taken by the IDF, including a “full cordon placed on the village of Yatta,” the suspected terrorists’ home village.

Any work permits in Israel held by members of the shooters’ clan are revoked, the statement notes.

The cabinet also cancels the visiting permits for thousands of Palestinians to enter Israel during the month of Ramadan that were announced the day before the attack.

The statement concludes: “Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the National Security Council to coordinate a series of working studies related to additional matters that will be presented to the cabinet in the near future.”