By Aryeh Savir/TPS • 19 February, 2020
IDF troops operating on the Gaza Strip border on Wednesday came under fire from Islamic Jihad snipers in the Strip.
The troops identified the squad in the Khan Yunis area and fired back “to remove the threat,” the IDF stated.
The military further noted the Police’s elite Yamam counterterrorism unit was on site to fire back at the terrorists.
There were no Israeli casualties in the incident. Gaza sources reported that one Islamic Jihad terrorist was lightly injured in the exchange of fire while medical sources at the European hospital said the man was in moderate condition.
The presence of the Yamam and the location of the incident may indicate that the IDF had prior intelligence about a pending attack and had prepared to respond to it.
Tensions on the border with Gaza have been high in recent weeks following an increase in the rocket fire from the Strip and the returned launch of explosive charges tied to balloons into Israel.
Deputy Minister of Defense Avi Dichter warned that Israel will “have to prepare for a long and heavy military campaign in Gaza” and the “Gaza will go through a similar process” to the one that the Judea and Samaria area went through during the IDF’s counterterrorism Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.
“Hamas and jihad terror infrastructures will be destroyed, there is no other option,” he stated.
He further said that “Israel cannot tolerate a terrorist entity that threatens its citizens and holds the ability to disrupt their lives.”