The four terrorists who attempted to enter Israel early yesterday morning (Thursday) from the southern Gaza Strip emerged from a tunnel that had been known to the IDF for a decade.
According to a report by Doron Kadosh on Galai Tzahal (IDF Radio), the tunnel shaft through which the terrorists reached 200 meters from the border is a shaft that is connected to a tunnel that has been known to Israel for 10 years, since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Kadosh pointed out that the tunnel, which came close to Israeli territory, had not been destroyed since the beginning of the war, even though during the last eight months the IDF has been operating in the "buffer zone", the area that is hundreds of meters to a kilometer wide, along the entire border of the Strip.
The IDF, according to the report, did not thoroughly investigate the route of the tunnel, and did not act to destroy its branches approaching the fence - so the terrorist squad was able to use that tunnel to emerge 200 meters from the border.
Furthermore, when the terrorists reached the first fence, they passed through an opening in the fence intended to allow the movement of IDF forces, which had remained open.
Security officials harshly criticized the Gaza Division in a conversation with the Israel Defense Forces, saying that this was an incident that could have been prevented - both through action against the tunnel beforehand and by being careful to close openings in the fence.
The Thursday morning infiltration attempt saw terrorists attempt to penetrate the border from an area near Rafah in Gaza, across from the area between Kerem Shalom and Holit in southern Israel.
Soldiers from the Bedouin surveillance battalion were called to the scene and clashed with the terrorists, who opened fire at them. The cross-border battle continued for several minutes, just north of Kerem Shalom.
During the battle, Warrant Officer Zeed Mazarib was killed.