Chief of Military Intelligence Major-General Aviv Kochavi on Tuesday told a session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee that of late, the IDF detected and neutralized over ten terror cells operating in Sinai, cells that were planning attacks against Israeli targets.

The growing terror presence has been on the intelligence community’s priority list since the fall of the former administration headed by President Hosni Mubarak. Senior intelligence officials over recent weeks have released warnings to the media that Sinai may become a serious threat as the presence of terrorists seeking to launch attacks against Israel from that area is becoming a commonplace reality.

Despite the overwhelming success in neutralizing terrorist efforts based in Sinai there have been a number of attacks, including rocket fire from Sinai into the Eilat area and gunfire and shoulder held missiles fired from the same area directed against border fence workers.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)