Two Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded in a mortar attack on the western Negev Tuesday morning, barely 12 hours after mortar shells and rockets were fired from Gaza and exploded in an open field of a kibbutz in the same area. The soldiers were carrying out engineering tasks along the security fence when they were attacked.
The Salah al-Din Brigades, a military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) terrorist organization, subsequently claimed responsibility for firing the two mortars.
IDF helicopters evacuated the victims to nearby Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva. Mainstream Israeli media generally ignore the attacks when no one is wounded, but this time reported on the latest explosions following the news that soldiers were wounded.
The government and military adopted a policy in the past year to retaliate after every terrorist attack from Hamas-controlled Gaza, and a response is likely in the next 24 hours.
Monday night, one Islamic Jihad terrorist was killed in an exchange of gunfire with the IDF after soldiers discovered a cell trying to plant bombs along the Gaza security fence, where IDF jeeps conduct regular patrols. One soldier was lightly wounded in the skirmish.
More than 115 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israelis since the beginning of 2010, and more than 400 rockets were fired from Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead early last year.
The PA is headed by the Fatah faction, which lost control of Gaza in a bloody militia war with Hamas three years ago.