Hamas, the terror faction that has ruled Gaza since a military coup in 2007, prevented a smaller group called Islamic Jihad from attacking IDF soldiers on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad said this week.
"The Hamas movement foiled an ambush by the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, [that was intended] to badly hurt Israeli soldiers north of Khan Younis,” the terror spokesman said.
The spokesman, who was identified as Abu Ahmed, said in a news conference Tuesday that members of his group had intended to ambush IDF soldiers north of Beit Hanoun. “We prepared a sophisticated ambush [made up] of many fighters, snipers, and fighters who were supposed to attack the Israeli force, but the Hamas security forces managed to foil the operation at the last moment.”
Abu Ahmed said it was true that there was an unwritten agreement between Hamas and other factions not to fire missiles at Israel “in order to allow the residents [of Gaza] to rest and also to rehabilitate the [Gaza] Strip.” The IDF regularly targets Gaza terrorists in Gaza whenever rockets are fired on Israel.
An IDF Givati Brigade force stopped an attack by terrorist guerrillas near the security fence at Kissufim on Tuesday. Three terrorists were identified and the IDF fired mortars at them, causing them to flee towards Gaza. This could be the incident to which the Islamic Jihad spokesman was referring.
It should be noted that Gaza terrorist spokesmen do not have a reputation for accuracy and that the report by Abu Ahmed could be pure disinformation, intended to bolster Hamas's image.