Israel continues to be on high terrorism alert, despite and as evidenced by the continuing total closure on Arab areas in Yesha.
A Kassam rocket aimed at the city of Efrat, south of Jerusalem, was not directed at the residents - but rather at soldiers. It was originally assumed that the rocket, discovered this morning in the Arab village of Beit Fajr pointing towards Efrat, would have been fired at the town had it not been discovered this morning in time. Security sources now say, however, that the rocket was in fact a decoy, designed to draw IDF soldiers towards a pipe bomb attached to its side. IDF sappers neutralized the bomb without incident - but not before Efrat residents were ordered into bomb shelters or concrete-roofed rooms.
Soldiers in Gaza were targeted in two separate incidents this morning: with grenades in the Rafiach area of southern Gaza, and with a bomb near Netzarim; no one was hurt. Two dead terrorists were later found at the latter site, and a third terrorist was severely wounded. An IDF undercover unit arrested this afternoon the leader of the Democratic Front terrorist organization in the Ramallah area.
Soldiers operating in Jenin had several successes today. They found a 10-kilogram explosives device hidden under a mound of rocks, and safely detonated it; they discovered a small weapons cache with a bomb, eight rifles and two handguns; and they arrested 15 residents of a nearby village, on suspicion of having taken part in terrorist activities.
Maj. Shachar Shmul, the company commander who was killed by an Arab sniper in Bethlehem on Monday night, was buried this afternoon in the Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem. Hundreds of people participated in the funeral. Shmul was killed while ensuring that a controlled explosion of a suspected terrorist vehicle did not endanger nearby Arab homes.
A Kassam rocket aimed at the city of Efrat, south of Jerusalem, was not directed at the residents - but rather at soldiers. It was originally assumed that the rocket, discovered this morning in the Arab village of Beit Fajr pointing towards Efrat, would have been fired at the town had it not been discovered this morning in time. Security sources now say, however, that the rocket was in fact a decoy, designed to draw IDF soldiers towards a pipe bomb attached to its side. IDF sappers neutralized the bomb without incident - but not before Efrat residents were ordered into bomb shelters or concrete-roofed rooms.
Soldiers in Gaza were targeted in two separate incidents this morning: with grenades in the Rafiach area of southern Gaza, and with a bomb near Netzarim; no one was hurt. Two dead terrorists were later found at the latter site, and a third terrorist was severely wounded. An IDF undercover unit arrested this afternoon the leader of the Democratic Front terrorist organization in the Ramallah area.
Soldiers operating in Jenin had several successes today. They found a 10-kilogram explosives device hidden under a mound of rocks, and safely detonated it; they discovered a small weapons cache with a bomb, eight rifles and two handguns; and they arrested 15 residents of a nearby village, on suspicion of having taken part in terrorist activities.
Maj. Shachar Shmul, the company commander who was killed by an Arab sniper in Bethlehem on Monday night, was buried this afternoon in the Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem. Hundreds of people participated in the funeral. Shmul was killed while ensuring that a controlled explosion of a suspected terrorist vehicle did not endanger nearby Arab homes.