Israeli Air Force pilots eliminated four terrorists in two air strikes late Thursday night and early Friday morning, three of whom were members of Hamas.

In one attack, the IAF struck two terrorists riding in a vehicle near the border fence with Egypt. The other two terrorists were killed while driving in the Egypt-Gaza border town of Rafiah.

One of the dead terrorists was the commander of the Hamas cell in Rafiah, according to local sources quoted by IDF Army Radio.

The IDF raised the terror alert along Israel’s border with Egypt after Hamas terrorists blew up the border fence separating Egypt from Gaza on Wednesday, allowing terrorists to move freely and bring arms, explosives and cash into Gaza from Egypt.

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter reported Thursday that Gaza terrorists have amassed close to 100 tons of explosives as well as advanced weaponry, including anti-aircraft missiles and long-range Katyusha rockets.

PA to Control Border?
Defense Minister Ehud Barak offered to transfer control of Israeli crossings into Gaza to the Palestinian Authority if it could prove its security control was as “effective as that of Jordan, Egypt and even Syria.” He added, however, that Israel was “not promising anything.”

Egyptian officials had rejected overtures from Israel suggesting that Egypt take over total responsibility for the Hamas terrorist-controlled region on Thursday since the border is now open.  Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki bluntly told the Associated Press, “This is a wrong assumption.”