jueves, 25 de diciembre de 2014

'Israel will respond strongly to Hamas aggression'.

 
 A wounded Israeli soldier being transported to Soroka Medical Center, Wednesday.
Photo credit: Dudu Grunshpan
 
"Our policy is clear -- a strong and vigorous response in the face of any attempt to violate the quiet in the south," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, following the sniper attack on the Gaza border in which an Israeli soldier was seriously wounded. "We will respond strongly to any attempt to violate the quiet that was achieved [in Operation Protective Edge]." 

Wednesday's incident was the most serious on the Gaza border since the end of Operation Protective Edge in August. Israeli troops providing security for engineering work being done on the border fence came under sniper fire from Gaza. One Israeli soldier, from the Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion, was seriously wounded. The soldier received life-saving medical treatment on the spot, before being transported by helicopter to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. 
 

An IDF tank firing into Gaza, Wednesday.
 
Israeli troops responded immediately with intense fire at two suspicious targets. At the same time, Israeli tanks fired several shells at a target on the outskirts of Khan Younis and the Israeli Air Force carried out strikes on a number of targets in southern Gaza.

A member of the Hamas military wing was killed in the exchange of fire. Hamas identified the dead man as Tayseer Asmairi, the commander of the Hamas observation unit in the area.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Beeny Gantz was briefed on the incident and ordered the raising of the alert level in the south. "The [sniper fire] was conducted against IDF troops doing security work within Israeli territory, not enemy territory," Gantz said. "We have no intention of allowing these incidents to pass unanswered," he said. "We reacted at the spot, and we will operate wisely and as powerfully as necessary in any such cases, if they recur."

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said, "We cannot tolerate a shooting incident in which an IDF soldier is wounded. We view Hamas as responsible for what happens in Gaza. We are not interested in escalation, but Hamas should not test our patience."

IDF officials linked Wednesday's incident with the Qassam rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel last Friday. An IDF official called Wednesday's shooting "a grave incident," adding that both the rocket fire and the sniper attack "blatantly violated the quiet."

"The IDF will continue to respond accordingly to any attempt to harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians," the official said. "Responsibility for maintaining quiet in the Gaza Strip lies with the Hamas terrorist organization."

Hamas denied involvement in the sniper attack, calling it a "local initiative." The Hamas military wing said the sniper belonged to a global jihadist group. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, accused Israel of provoking the hostilities. "We warn the occupation against repeating these stupidities," he said.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces is monitoring dirt mounds and fortifications Hamas is constructing just 500 meters from Netiv Haasara, an Israeli border community. It is believed Hamas is using these as observation points, but there is concern it could also place snipers at them.

"We are concerned Hamas is preparing itself for the next round after Operation Protective Edge," said Arnon Avni, spokesman for Kibbutz Nirim.



25/12/2014 in ISRAEL HAYOM.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=22367



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