At 2.A.M Tuesday morning the Southern Command conducted an extensive exercise in the Gaza strip area, including the cities of Ashkelon, Sderot, Ofakim and Netivot.
The exercise was planned ahead and involved a number of scenarios prepared as part of implementing the lessons from the Protective Edge campaign. It included three scenarios which simulated terrorist infiltrations via tunnels using motorcycles.
"The exercise was built in a way that there was no prior warning of the terrorist infiltration which involved terrorists taking surprise control of villages," said a senior officer. "We examined various defensive scenarios including tunnels, surface infiltrations, and naval and aerial infiltrations."
The arrival of additional forces was also tested as well as their entry into the affected areas and the various responsibilities of police, MDA and other emergency bodies.
The officer said that since the Protective Edge campaign there is much better cooperation between ground,sea and air forces and there is much better coordination between the IDF, police and the GSS, in accordance with IDF policy that lessons must be learned from careful analysis of every IDF operation.
The Army Spokesman's office published pictures from the exercise.