Visit to Gaza border shows remains of battles with heavily prepared terrorists

In a visit to the Gaza border, Times of Israel reporters come across multiple scenes where firefights between Hamas terrorists and Israeli forces took place Saturday. The equipment speaks volumes about what the terrorists intended to do inside of Israel.

Earlier in the day, a military spokesperson said that Hamas terrorists who infiltrated Israel had planned to hold territory and not just return to Gaza after carrying out their bloody massacres.

On the side of the road between Re’im and Be’eri, a white Toyota pickup truck with green Gaza license plates lies in a ditch. A gas canister sits in the bed, a homemade detonator in the back seat.

Outside, Russian-made machine gun bullets lie in the sand, next to changes of clothes and shoes. Urine collection apparatuses for soldiers in extended ambush operations are scattered nearby.

The pickup’s front is smashed in, the evident result of a ramming by an Israeli civilian vehicle, parts of which were also by the side of the road.

A yellow X is scribbled onto the windshield, a sign from the Zaka search and rescue unit that no bodies are there.

Further up the road next to the Re’im military base, a small red Quran sits next to a sniper rifle case in a dirt field where another gun battle took place.

A toolkit, including a screwdriver, is open in the field. Military fatigues and civilian clothes are strewn about.

Closer to the base, the smell of death hovers in the air. Two puddles of blood stain the earth, with two pairs of boots nearby.

The vegetation between the base’s fence and the terrorists’ equipment is black from fire.

Two alert and slightly jumpy soldiers inside the base order reporters to not come any closer.