Due to the situation in Sinai between ISIS and Egyptian military forces, and fears of a possible spill over into areas of southern Israel, the IDF on Friday morning 16 Tammuz at 05:00 closed route 12 to all non-military vehicular traffic.

He decision to close the route near Eilat was made following high-level consultations among security officials. It is added the closure is temporary, and the reopening of the route will depend on developments in the area.

In response to events in Sinai this week, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday told a Beersheva audience, “Up until several months ago, when we said that ISIS was carrying out actions on our borders, people were skeptical. And here we see before our very eyes ISIS operating with unusual brutality on both our northern and southern borders.

“Our hearts are with the Egyptian people and we send our condolences to the Egyptian government and to the families whose loved ones have fallen in the struggle against vicious terrorism. The actions that we have seen from ISIS are nothing compared to the capabilities being built by the Iranian regime. It is clear that nobody in their right mind would give ISIS nuclear weapons. But in the major powers’ current talks with Iran they are giving it – this extremist state that is exporting terrorism around the world – the ability to develop an arsenal of nuclear weapons, of very many nuclear bombs along with the means to deliver them – long-range missiles. Therefore, we now face two threats – from ISIS and from Iran.

“We need not strengthen one at the expense of the other. We need to weaken both and prevent the aggression and arming of both. I tell you that in the face of these forces of darkness, which repress human rights, murder people and hang them up in public squares, against these forces we are moving forward here in Beersheva with the cyber park. We see very great progress here in Beersheva; this is a global revolution. While this revolution gives us considerable economic strength, as well as security and military strength, it requires us to leave behind the usual patterns, move on to other things and set forth a vision…”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)