Ten Palestinian terrorist suicide attacks were thwarted by Israeli security forces in the month of March - and possibly another one this morning. The IDF received intelligence information last night of an impending attack in or from northern Gaza's industrial zone. The zone was therefore closed this morning, despite the fact that many Jewish employees and Arab workers had already arrived there, and Israeli forces set off in pursuit of one or more terrorists who might have infiltrated Jewish-populated areas.
The police and army, buttressed by hosts of Civil Guard personnel and volunteers, are on full alert throughout the country, as they have been for the past 11 days since the killing of Hamas arch-terrorist Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The high alert will continue until after the Passover holiday, which ends on April 12. The closure on the Arab areas in Judea and Samaria that was imposed last week will also continue until after the holiday.
Large IDF forces entered the area of Rafiach last night - on the Israeli-Egyptian border in southern Gaza - with the objective of searching out and destroying arms-smuggling tunnels. The terrorists have dug dozens of tunnels in the soft Negev-Gaza earth over the past several years, and use them to smuggle weapons, explosives and even terrorists from Egypt into Gaza. Egyptian forces have barely ever interfered, while the IDF has uncovered and blown up many of the tunnels. Arabs fired at the IDF forces this morning; no one was hurt.
Further north in Gaza, along the Karni-Netzarim route, Israeli soldiers identified an armed terrorist approaching the road late this morning; they shot and killed him, and no Israelis were hurt.
The police and army, buttressed by hosts of Civil Guard personnel and volunteers, are on full alert throughout the country, as they have been for the past 11 days since the killing of Hamas arch-terrorist Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The high alert will continue until after the Passover holiday, which ends on April 12. The closure on the Arab areas in Judea and Samaria that was imposed last week will also continue until after the holiday.
Large IDF forces entered the area of Rafiach last night - on the Israeli-Egyptian border in southern Gaza - with the objective of searching out and destroying arms-smuggling tunnels. The terrorists have dug dozens of tunnels in the soft Negev-Gaza earth over the past several years, and use them to smuggle weapons, explosives and even terrorists from Egypt into Gaza. Egyptian forces have barely ever interfered, while the IDF has uncovered and blown up many of the tunnels. Arabs fired at the IDF forces this morning; no one was hurt.
Further north in Gaza, along the Karni-Netzarim route, Israeli soldiers identified an armed terrorist approaching the road late this morning; they shot and killed him, and no Israelis were hurt.