The recent sharp increase in shooting attacks from northern Gaza indicates Hamas has added sniper fire to its growing arsenal.

The latest attack came on Friday when shots were fired at a visiting Canadian delegation escorted by Public Security Minister Avi Dichter. Dichter’s bureau chief, Moti Gil was moderately wounded by the gunfire directed at the scenic outlook in Kibbutz Nir Am.

Sniper fire has been used in the past, including the attack which claimed the life of 10-month-old Chevron resident Tehilla Shalhevet Pas in 2001. In 2002, an IRA sniper murdered 10 people, soldiers and civilians, at Wadi Charamiya, north of Ofrah in the Benjamin Regional Council district of Shomron.

Some 40 members of PA security forces were trained as sharpshooters in the United States and others have since trained in Russia. It is now being reported that Hamas is training snipers in Iraq.

Included in the huge weapons cache on board the Karin-A, apprehended outside of Israeli territorial waters by Israel January 2, 2002 were sniper weapons with telescopic sights and night-vision capability.

In a related matter, Defense Minister Ehud Barak promised US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that as part of the latest wave of ‘good-will’ gestures from Israel, military equipment is being handed over to the PA, including armored vehicles and nigh-vision equipment.

It now appears that the threat to southern Israeli farmers is significantly more deadly, since in rocket attacks, the chances of being struck are considerably less than in an attack when one is targeted by a sniper in Gaza. A number of communities located near the Gaza border are particularly susceptible to such attacks, including Kissufim, Ein HaShlosha, Nirim and Nir Am. In northern Gaza a tall concrete partition wall prevents such attacks in the Erez area or into Netiv HaAsarah. The remaining border area heading south to Kerem Shalom has just a fence, permitting the sniper fire.

A senior IDF officer reports that last month, there were 35 shooting attacks, including sniper fire directed at workers in the communities listed above.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)