Thousands of Israelis traveled to Netivot on Sunday to daven at the kever of the Baba Sali for the hillula.
On Sunday evening, Mako reported that Hamas had planned to kill and maim the Jews who gathered for the hillula and had prepared to launch 40 rockets at the kever. The evil plot was thwarted by the soldiers of the 646th Reserve Paratrooper Brigade who destroyed the launchers.
One rocket fell in an open area very close to Netivot during the hillula. According to the policy for rockets headed toward open areas, no alert was activated in the city.
The IDF’s operation in Gaza has severely hampered Hamas’s rocket-launching ability. Shushan stated: “Today, they have few weapons, so they try to carry out attacks in a concentrated effort, similar to what we saw on New Year’s. Here, they tried to do the same towards Netivot, and we succeeded in thwarting their plan and destroying all the launchers.”
One can only imagine what would have happened if Hamas had succeeded in launching dozens of rockets at the kever when thousands of people were gathered there.
Since entering Gaza, the 646th Brigade has succeeded in exposing and destroying more than 50 rocket manufacturing and explosive device production workshops. “The rocket production in the Gaza Strip and the production of explosive devices are regulated just like in any production facility,” said Lieutenant Col. (Res.) Y, the intelligence officer of the Paratrooper Reserve Brigade. “There are production facilities here that the Brigade has exposed which served for the serial production of rockets and other combat means.”
Thanks to Iranian know-how and the smuggling of production means, Hamas has built quality production lines in the Gaza Strip, not inferior and sometimes even superior to the original production facilities.
Col. Shushan, Commander of Brigade 646, added: “As of today, the IDF has killed about 10,000 terrorists belonging to Hamas, people I can say are terrorists. This is a third of Hamas’s fighting force. Add the wounded the count and it means that the IDF has hampered 50% of Hamas’s fighting force. It will take another year, and we will deal with the remaining 50%.”
Source: (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
