Israel's security forces on Sunday morning are on high alert, after senior Hamas terrorist Mazen Faqha was shot dead in Gaza over the weekend.
Security forces area always patrolling the area around the Gaza fence, but were now instructed to be on alert, add additional soldiers, change the patrol route, and more.
In Judea and Samaria, an alert was also raised, out of concern Hamas would order a large-scale terror attack in the area where Faqha was born and raised.
Faqha was a senior Hamas official in Judea and Samaria but was transferred to Gaza after his release from prison in the 2011 "Shalit deal."
Faqha, according to the Hebrew-language Walla! news website, was behind many terrorist attacks against Israelis and was a senior member of the group’s so-called "military wing."
While it remains unclear who was behind his death, Hamas accused "agents of the occupation in the Gaza Strip" of being behind the shooting, according to Walla!.
Faqha was shot at short range by shooters near his house in southern Gaza.
Gaza sources claim the shooter used a silencer, and shot Faqha with four bullets to his head before escaping immediately afterwards.
The sources also said Faqha died on the spot.
His funeral turned into a protest as thousands of armed terrorists marched through the city, including Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
Sinwar's deputy Khalil al-Hayya warned, "If the enemy believes that shootings will change the status quo, it should know that the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades know how to respond in a similar fashion."
Faqha was originally sentenced in 2003 to nine life terms after being convicted of sending a terrorist to carry out a suicide bombing attack. The terrorist blew himself up on an Egged bus near the city of Tzfat, murdering nine people.