The IDF killed a senior Popular Resistance Committee (PRC) terrorist and two other terrorists in Rafiah early Sunday morning.
Undercover IDF Special Forces took control of several buildings on the outskirts of Gaza’s airport after midnight Sunday. Tanks and aircraft took part in the ensuing battle with local terrorists. Dozens of wanted terrorists were arrested and IDF bulldozers cleared areas that Arab terrorists had used for rocket-fire.
Soldier Suffers Serious Wounds
No IDF injuries were reported during the operation. Later Sunday morning, however, a soldier was shot by a sniper in the shoulder. He was transported to Be’er Sheva's Soroka hospital and is in serious condition.
The senior terrorist killed was part of the PRC, a terrorist umbrella group operating in Gaza that receives funding and direction from Hizbullah and coordinates various attacks sanctioned by the ruling Hamas. The other terrorists were members of Hamas. Local reports said fifteen terrorists were wounded in the clashes.
Also Sunday morning, a Hamas terrorist wounded in clashes with IDF soldiers last week, died of his wounds.
Arrests in Judea and Samaria
IDF soldiers arrested 16 wanted terrorists overnight Sunday in Shechem (Nablus), Jericho, Hevron and Ramallah. The detainees were taken to security services for questioning.
Soldiers found a weapons cache and ammunition in the home of one of the Shechem terrorists. The materials were confiscated.
Olmert: War Going on in Southern Israel
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday that a war is raging in the south of the country. A number of politicians have recently said as much.
“A war is going on in the south almost daily,” Olmert stated. “Terrorist leaders are part of the war and we will not ease up on them, and we won’t stop the war until life for southern residents returns to normal.”
Olmert and a ministerial committee decided Sunday to fortify homes within 4.5 kilometers of Gaza. It is known that Gaza terrorists already have missiles with a range beyond that distance, however.
Two Attempted Attacks Foiled Over Sabbath
Two attempts to kill Jews in Judea and Samaria failed on Saturday. In one case, border police guards arrested an Arab man in Hevron as he attempted to enter the Tomb of the Patriarchs while armed with a knife.
In the second incident, Arabs threw Molotov cocktails at an Israeli vehicle near the village of Na’alin, in Samaria. No injuries were reported.
Arab Woman Sentenced in Terrorist Plot
The Samaria military court sentenced female terrorist Fatna Abu-Ayash to 15 years in prison Friday morning for her role in a plot to kidnap and murder an Israeli Jew. Ayash was sentenced to five years of probation as well.
Ayash had planned to drug and kidnap an Israeli acquaintance and to take him to Shechem, where she planned to turn him over to fellow terrorists, who would kill him. Ayash had arranged a meeting with the intended victim in Tel Aviv and was on her way to the meeting carrying sleeping pills when she was arrested by security forces acting on intelligence information.