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Three armed Palestinians killed in border strike, Gaza authorities confirm
Suspected infiltration attempt on Saturday night and subsequent Israeli fire come as tensions escalate over the weekend
Three armed Palestinians were killed in an incident late Saturday night in which Israeli forces thwarted an infiltration attempt in the northern Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said Sunday morning.
The ministry said another man was hospitalized in the exchange, which came hours after three rockets were fired at southern Israel from the restive coastal enclave.
Gaza-based news outlets had earlier reported four or five people killed in the strike.
The Israeli military said Saturday that an attack helicopter and a tank were used to target the suspected terrorists as they approached the fence.
“A short while ago, IDF troops spotted armed suspects near the security fence around the northern Gaza Strip. An IDF attack helicopter and a tank fired at them,” the army said in a statement.
An army spokesperson said there were no Israeli casualties.
Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said that Israel later conducted artillery strikes on its positions east of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, near where the men had approached the fence to enter Israel.
Palestinian media reported that the men were members of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing, Saraya al-Quds. That could not be immediately confirmed.
The suspected infiltration attempt came as violence between Israel and Gaza has ramped up considerably in the last three weeks.
On Saturday night, in the wake of the border incident, the cities of Beersheba, Ashdod, Ofakim, Gan Yavne and Yavne opened their municipal bomb shelters ahead of expected reprisal rocket attacks. The Magen David Adom ambulance service also said it was going on high alert.
Earlier on Saturday night, Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired three rockets at southern Israel, two of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, the military said. Fragments from one of the Gaza rockets struck the yard of a home in the town of Sderot, causing damage.
There were no physical injuries caused by the shrapnel in Sderot. One woman received medical treatment after she suffered an acute anxiety attack because of the impact, medics said.
In addition, two people sustained minor injuries while running to bomb shelters, according to Magen David Adom. Elsewhere, three people were treated for acute anxiety attacks brought on by the rockets. One of them, a 76-year-old woman, required hospitalization, medics said.
Shrapnel also landed inside a community in the Sha’ar Hanegev region of southern Israel, northeast of Gaza, causing no injuries, local officials said.
It was the second night in a row that sirens sounded in Sderot. On Friday night, terrorists in the Strip fired at least one rocket into Israel, which was intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, the IDF said. There were no reports of injury or damage.
In response, the Israeli military struck two underground sites belonging to Hamas.
The rocket fire came after several thousand Palestinians joined protests on the Gaza Strip border earlier Friday, with several hundred rioting and throwing stones and explosive devices at Israeli troops. Soldiers responded with tear gas and occasional live fire. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said 16 Palestinians had been injured.
For the past year, Palestinians have staged regular marches on the Gaza border known collectively as the Great March of Return.
Recent weeks have seen several serious infiltration attempts into Israel. In a span of 10 days, six armed Palestinian terrorists — many of them current and former Hamas members — got through the security fence surrounding the Gaza Strip before being killed by Israeli troops. In one case on August 1, the gunman opened fire at IDF soldiers, injuring three of them, before he was shot dead.
Last Saturday, a group of four heavily armed terrorists, carrying assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and rations, attempted to infiltrate Israeli territory before they were spotted and shot dead by troops on the border.
The Hamas terror group has ruled Gaza since taking over it in a bloody coup in 2007 and vows to destroy Israel.
