The IDF has intensified operations in Gaza in response to a sharp increase in Kassam rocket attacks into the western Negev and attacks on IDF positions and units along the Gaza perimeter. The Israeli forces accurately targeted a Kassam-rocket firing terrorist cell on Saturday night.
Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza - into which PA sources said the IDF had sent forces Saturday night - has been a popular launching area for PA terrorists. The area is now effectively cut off by the IDF from the rest of Gaza.
Two Kassam rockets rained down on Sderot last night - the second such pair in 24 hours. Hakafot Shinyot celebrations had just ended, and no one was hurt. On Friday night, two Kassam rockets landed in Sderot, wounding a man and a boy. One rocket landed in the yard of a home, wounding the man lightly-to-moderately; he, the lightly-injured boy and two people who went into shock were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
A Fatah terrorist of the Tanzim militia was eliminated in an IDF airstrike on Sabbath in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza. Three PA residents were injured in the operation, which IDF sources said targeted a vehicle belonging to a cell involved in the ongoing Kassam rocket attacks on Jewish targets. Early Saturday, seven PA residents were killed in northern Gaza when an IDF missile struck the building in which they were taking cover.
On Friday, three Hamas terrorists were eliminated in an IDF airstrike on their car.
In other counterterror activities, IDF troops shot at members of a terrorist cell in Kabatiyeh, south of the PA city of Jenin. At least one of the Islamic Jihad cell members was reportedly injured. Two PA residents were captured by Israeli soldiers as they attempted to slip across the Gaza Strip perimeter defenses. The would-be infiltrators were transferred to General Security Services for interrogation.
PA sources put the count of Arab deaths as a result of IDF operations over the last three days at 19. The sources claimed that four of the fatalities were children and that one was a woman.
The Izz A-Din Al-Kassam Brigades of Hamas claimed to have fired nine Yassin rockets, an RPG and eleven mortar shells at IDF forces in the northern Gaza Strip overnight.
The Islamic Jihad also claimed to have attacked IDF forces in Gaza overnight. The terrorist group released a statement saying its men fired an RPG at an IDF armored troop transport in an area east of Khan Yunis.
The Popular Resistance Committees and the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades of the Fatah organization, which is headed by PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, announced that its fighters had fired six rockets at the IDF’s Kerem Shalom military base on Friday night. Fatah terrorists also claimed that they had fired two Aksa-2 rockets at the Negev city of Ofakim.
In a related report from outside Israel, Egyptian security forces have arrested eight activists from the Muslim Brotherhood organization, which has been closely linked with Islamist terrorism. Egyptian sources said that the Brotherhood members were arrested for distributing pamphlets that encourage opposition to the current regime in Cairo, headed by President Hosni Mubarak.
Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza - into which PA sources said the IDF had sent forces Saturday night - has been a popular launching area for PA terrorists. The area is now effectively cut off by the IDF from the rest of Gaza.
Two Kassam rockets rained down on Sderot last night - the second such pair in 24 hours. Hakafot Shinyot celebrations had just ended, and no one was hurt. On Friday night, two Kassam rockets landed in Sderot, wounding a man and a boy. One rocket landed in the yard of a home, wounding the man lightly-to-moderately; he, the lightly-injured boy and two people who went into shock were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
A Fatah terrorist of the Tanzim militia was eliminated in an IDF airstrike on Sabbath in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza. Three PA residents were injured in the operation, which IDF sources said targeted a vehicle belonging to a cell involved in the ongoing Kassam rocket attacks on Jewish targets. Early Saturday, seven PA residents were killed in northern Gaza when an IDF missile struck the building in which they were taking cover.
On Friday, three Hamas terrorists were eliminated in an IDF airstrike on their car.
In other counterterror activities, IDF troops shot at members of a terrorist cell in Kabatiyeh, south of the PA city of Jenin. At least one of the Islamic Jihad cell members was reportedly injured. Two PA residents were captured by Israeli soldiers as they attempted to slip across the Gaza Strip perimeter defenses. The would-be infiltrators were transferred to General Security Services for interrogation.
PA sources put the count of Arab deaths as a result of IDF operations over the last three days at 19. The sources claimed that four of the fatalities were children and that one was a woman.
The Izz A-Din Al-Kassam Brigades of Hamas claimed to have fired nine Yassin rockets, an RPG and eleven mortar shells at IDF forces in the northern Gaza Strip overnight.
The Islamic Jihad also claimed to have attacked IDF forces in Gaza overnight. The terrorist group released a statement saying its men fired an RPG at an IDF armored troop transport in an area east of Khan Yunis.
The Popular Resistance Committees and the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades of the Fatah organization, which is headed by PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, announced that its fighters had fired six rockets at the IDF’s Kerem Shalom military base on Friday night. Fatah terrorists also claimed that they had fired two Aksa-2 rockets at the Negev city of Ofakim.
In a related report from outside Israel, Egyptian security forces have arrested eight activists from the Muslim Brotherhood organization, which has been closely linked with Islamist terrorism. Egyptian sources said that the Brotherhood members were arrested for distributing pamphlets that encourage opposition to the current regime in Cairo, headed by President Hosni Mubarak.