Southern general says IDF to beef up defenses on Gaza border

GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Sami Turgeman speaks to mayors of southern Israeli towns and says he’ll advise military action against any tunnels dug beneath the border with Gaza discovered after the completion of Operation Protective Edge.

“For every tunnel found in the future, I’ll advise a ground attack in Gaza,” the general is quoted by Channel 2 saying. Turgeman adds that “There’ll be a massive upgrade in security protection for residents of the southern area — both with more personnel deployed, and new physical components.”

The mayors said afterwards that he had indicated the IDF had some kind of new physical barrier in mind to help guard against the tunnels

According to Channel 10, Turgeman says all known tunnels penetrating Israeli territory will be destroyed within a couple of days, “but only those we knew about.” He notes that IDF troops will remain in the Gaza Strip after the tunnels are finished being destroyed and that Israel “will fire at any place from which [rockets] are being launched.”