An IDF soldier was killed near Kissufim by sniper fire from the Gaza Strip on Friday afternoon, leading for a retaliatory strike by the IDF that killed at least four Hamas terrorists.
“Today, an IDF combat soldier was killed during operational activity near the southern Gaza Strip. During the incident, a terrorist squad shot at IDF troops and the IDF soldier was severely injured. He later succumbed to his wounds,” the army said.
Details of the incident were withheld for several hours until the soldier’s family were notified. His name was not immediately published.
The attack was following by an immediate and harsh response by the Israeli Air Force.
The Israeli army said it completed the strike of 25 Hamas targets located in Hamas’ Khan Yunis army command in the southern Gaza Strip.
The assault destroyed the command’s control and command abilities, ruined its offices and damaged aerial maneuvering and defense abilities.
The attack also destroyed a storage facility for unmanned aerial vehicles, observation posts and a factory manufacturing underground infrastructures. The military said that the attacks will continue.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an additional security assessment discussion with Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, army chief Gadi Eisenkot, Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman and other military officials at the army headquarters in Tel Aviv.
An IDF official described the fire exchange as the gravest incident since the 2014 Operation Protective Edge, putting the blame squarely on Hamas.
“Hamas will be held accountable for this incident as well as the series of the terror activities it has been executing over the past months,” the IDF said in a statement. “Hamas has chosen to escalate the security situation and will bear the responsibility for its actions.”
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman talked Friday on the phone with UN envoy to the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov telling him Hamas is deliberately escalating the situation in Gaza.
“Our response will be harsh and from now on the Hamas leadership bears the sole responsibility,” Lieberman added.
“If Hamas continues launching rockets, the outcome will be much more severe than what they think. Hamas will be responsible of the all the destruction and fatalities,” the defense minister concluded.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
Please Hashem let this be the start of the final part of Gog u’Magog
L’havdil, the IDF, under the constraints of incompetent politicians, is taking vengeance on “eitzim v’avanim”. So timely. So incorrect.
It’s time to punish Hamas in the only way they recognize: kill their leaders and all the terrorists.
Hashem Yerachem.
They should eliminate every single facility that Hamas uses to conduct any and all aspects of their terror activity. There should be nothing left to bomb and destroy. They should also assassinate all of the Hamas leaders, even if they have left the region. Hunt them down and exterminate them. It is becoming silly that Israel leaves them the opportunities to continue their evil, just to give them the means to commit more terror. They must eliminate their ability to engage in terror.
To TLIK –
It’s all in the name of “proportionality” – a made up term created by anti-Israel leftists. It’s exactly like a bad comic book story where the hero destroys the plot of the super villain and locks him up, only to let him escape and create a new evil plot in the next episode. Just bomb them all to oblivion! If the USA could get away with nuking Japanese citizens, Israel should be allowed to get away with flattening a city of terrorists.
That was harsh?