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The strikes came after multiple rioters from Gaza managed to breach the border fence and set fire to a nearby IDF position.

(JNS)

An Israel Defense Forces drone struck Hamas terror outposts in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening for the third time this week, as riots along the border with the Palestinian enclave continue to escalate.

“A short time ago, the IDF attacked a military position of the Hamas terrorist organization using a UAV. The position is in the Rafah hot spot where violent disturbances are taking place, near the border fence in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF confirmed on X (formerly Twitter).

Some 30 minutes later, the IDF attacked two additional positions in the Strip using a combat helicopter and a tank, the military said.

Earlier on Tuesday, multiple rioters from Gaza managed to breach the border fence and set fire to a nearby IDF position. They returned to the Gaza Strip unharmed, Israel’s Walla news site cited security forces as saying.

Terrorists also continued to launch incendiary balloons across the border, sparking fires near Kfar Aza in southern Israel, local media reported.

Terror groups call for intifada

Tensions with the Gaza Strip have exploded over the past two weeks amid a renewal of violent demonstrations along the border, and as the heads of Palestinian terrorist groups called for a new intifada against the Jewish state.

Hundreds of Palestinians have participated in the riots, hurling bombs and grenades at the security barrier, prompting Israeli forces to respond with riot dispersal methods and in some cases live fire.

The IDF also attacked Hamas posts in Gaza on Friday, Saturday and Monday in response to the riots and the renewed launch of incendiary balloons.

On Monday, a terrorist opened fire on troops stationed along the frontier. An IDF soldier returned fire and identified a hit, according to the military.

Earlier in the day, troops arrested two suspects attempting to infiltrate into Israeli territory before transferring them for questioning.

Jerusalem has decided to keep the Erez border crossing closed until Hamas ends the violence, thereby preventing tens of thousands of Gazans with work permits from entering Israel.

Image: Palestinian terrorists clash with Israeli forces near the Gaza border, Sept. 25, 2023. Photo by Atia Mohammed/Flash90.

The P.A. reported that two Palestinians were killed during the counterterror operation.

(JNS)

An Israeli Defense Forces soldier was moderately injured by shrapnel and taken to a hospital during a counterterrorism operation early Sunday in the Nur Shams camp, east of Tulkarm in northwestern Samaria.

Terrorists threw explosives and shot at the Israeli forces, who responded with live fire. “Hits were detected,” the IDF said.

Palestinian Authority health officials said that two Palestinians were killed during the Israeli raid.

The P.A. Health Ministry reported that Asid Abu Ali, 21, and Abdulrahman Abu Daghash, 32, were killed by Israeli fire during the military activities.

The IDF said that soldiers located a building in the camp and dismantled an operational command center inside that “contained observation devices, computers and technological devices. Additionally, the forces located another room and neutralized dozens of ready-to-use explosive devices, gas-based explosive devices, and a large number of components for making explosive devices.”

The IDF documented the destruction of the terrorist command center.

IDF engineering vehicles also operated in the area to uncover explosive devices planted under the roads. The vehicles uncovered a large number of explosive devices that exploded, including at least one IED.

The Israeli bulldozers caused “heavy damage to roads,” the AP reported

The counterterrorism operation comes amid heightened security tensions in Israel ahead of Yom Kippur, which begins on Sunday evening and is the holiest occasion on the Jewish calendar.

Thousands of police officers, security personnel and volunteers are to be deployed throughout the country to prevent terrorist attacks during the holiday, with a special emphasis on Jerusalem, mixed Jewish-Arab cities, synagogues and other places where Jews gather for prayer.

Police are calling for licensed gun holders to bring their weapons to Yom Kippur prayers at the synagogue they attend.

On Saturday evening, a general closure was imposed on all of Judea and Samaria, and the Gaza Strip crossings were closed, with the borders reopening at midnight after Yom Kippur ends on Monday evening. During this period, only transit crossings involving humanitarian and medical cases will be allowed and only with the approval of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories unit.

Already before Rosh Hashanah kicked off the High Holiday season, police had raised the alert level in Israel amid an increase in warnings of possible terrorist attacks and a spike in social media incitement by terrorist groups.

“The number of warnings leading up to Yom Kippur is increasing. That is why we call on worshippers to watch out for their safety, and for those who [legally] bear arms to come to prayers with their weapons,” said Maj. Gen. Sigal Bar-Zvi, head of the Israel Police’s operations division.

Image: Israeli forces operate in the Nur Shams camp, east of Tulkarm in Samaria, Sept. 24, 2023. Credit: IDF.

Arabs also threw stones at an Israeli vehicle.

(JNS)

Three separate terror shootings were reported in Samaria on Sunday, with no casualties from the incidents that came hours before the start of Yom Kippur.

In the latest attack, terrorists opened fire at the Israeli community of Hinanit, nine miles west of Jenin in northern Samaria. The window of a home was struck during the attack.

Earlier in the day, terrorists shot at a military vehicle near Avnei Hefetz, close to Tulkarm in western Samaria, and before that terrorists opened fire at a military position near the village of Shuweika, which has become part of Tulkarm city.

Also on Sunday, Arab terrorists stoned a vehicle traveling on Route 55 between the Palestinian town of Azzun and the Israeli town of Ma’ale Shomron, near Qalqilya in Samaria.

No injuries were reported but the car’s windshield was damaged.

The attacks come amid heightened security tensions in Israel ahead of Yom Kippur, which begins on Sunday evening and is the holiest occasion on the Jewish calendar.

Thousands of police officers, security personnel and volunteers are to be deployed throughout the country to prevent terrorist attacks during the holiday, with a special emphasis on Jerusalem, mixed Jewish-Arab cities, synagogues and other places where Jews gather for prayer.

Police are calling for licensed gun holders to bring their weapons to Yom Kippur prayers at the synagogue they attend.

On Saturday evening, a general closure was imposed on all of Judea and Samaria, and the Gaza Strip crossings were closed, with the borders reopening at midnight after Yom Kippur ends on Monday evening. During this period, only transit crossings involving humanitarian and medical cases will be allowed and only with the approval of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories unit.

Already before Rosh Hashanah kicked off the High Holiday season, police had raised the alert level in Israel amid an increase in warnings of possible terrorist attacks and a spike in social media incitement by terrorist groups.

“The number of warnings leading up to Yom Kippur is increasing. That is why we call on worshippers to watch out for their safety, and for those who [legally] bear arms to come to prayers with their weapons,” said Maj. Gen. Sigal Bar-Zvi, head of the Israel Police’s operations division.

Image: IDF soldiers secure the scene of a shooting attack on a bus on Route 90 in the Jordan Valley, Sept. 4, 2022. Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90.

The Gaza terror group is sending Palestinian civilians into harm’s way in an apparent effort to pressure Qatar, via Israel, into restoring cut funding.

Yaakov Lappin

(JNS)

Despite claims that the recent attacks and disturbances along the Gaza-Israel border, orchestrated by Hamas, are motivated by supposed Israeli conspiracies against the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, they are in fact merely a violent negotiation tactic designed to secure more income for Gaza’s terrorist rulers.

Over the past two weeks, hundreds of Palestinians have taken part in a series of violent riots adjacent to the Gaza security fence, setting off a number of explosive devices along the barrier.

On Sept. 13, six Gazans were killed by an explosive device hurled by one of the rioters.

On Friday, the situation escalated, with Gazans renewing the launch of incendiary balloons across the border, causing fires in southern Israel.

The IDF responded on Friday and Saturday with airstrikes targeting Hamas terror outposts in the Strip.

Taken together, the incidents are reminiscent of the 2018-2019 Gaza border disturbances, though smaller in scope so far.

The Israeli Defense Ministry’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, announced last week that the Erez Border Crossing, through which some 20,000 Gazan Palestinians cross into Israel for work every day, would remain closed, after being shut for the Rosh Hashana holiday.

The decision to shut the crossing is more significant than it might seem, because it signals to Hamas that violence on the border will achieve the opposite of what it is trying to obtain—increased income.

Since the end of the IDF’s “Operation Guardian of the Walls” in 2021, Gaza’s economy has overall seen improvements, with increasing numbers of Gazans working in Israel, rising exports, goods flowing in and Qatar providing monthly funding to the tune of $30 million.

But recently, a number of developments have rained on Hamas’s economic parade. Global inflation rose, and Qatar, dissatisfied with Hamas’s relations with rival states—particularly Syria—while also assessing that Gaza’s economy is on better footing, decreased its funding.

Under the Qatari funding mechanism, the Gulf state purchases Egyptian fuel for Gaza’s power plant, while also funding Hamas’s civilian administration in Gaza and providing funds for poor Gazan families.

The decrease in Qatari funding has left Hamas’s civilian government in financial distress. Inflation, meanwhile, has harmed purchasing power of Gazan civilians, putting more pressure on Hamas.

The result is that Hamas has restarted its border riots, in an apparent effort to pressure Qatar via Israel to restore the funding to its previous levels.

Hamas’s tactics are brutal, sending Palestinian civilians into harm’s way for money. The terror group is banking on Israel to succumb to this extortion.

Palestinians are thus incited to approach the fence with IEDs, risking their lives as they attempt to sabotage Israel’s security barrier, which can no longer be torn apart with wire cutters as was the case in 2018-2019.

The taller barrier also makes it more difficult for IDF forces to fire across it accurately, but the military must still ensure that no terrorists infiltrate into Israel and approach western Negev communities. Israel views every attack on the barrier as an assault on its sovereignty.

Unfortunately, Hamas has seen such extortion attempts pay off in the past, and it is hoping this one will as well.

Meanwhile, parallel to this, Hamas uses its “West Bank Headquarters” in Gaza and Lebanon—terror command centers—to both orchestrate terrorist attacks and galvanize unorganized violence.

Israel’s defense establishment and intelligence community is, it is safe to assume, closely monitoring these developments and activating countermeasures against them.

Image: Six Gazans were killed when an explosive device meant to target IDF soldiers detonated prematurely during mass riots along the border with Israel, Sept. 13, 2023. Photo by Majdi Fathi/TPS.

Tensions with the Gaza Strip have exploded over the past two weeks amid a renewal of violent demonstrations along the border.

(JNS)

A Palestinian terrorist was shot and wounded at the Gaza border fence on Thursday after opening fire on Israeli security forces amid violent riots, the Israel Police confirmed in a statement.

A video of the incident, shared by the Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit, showed the Gazan shooting at Israeli security personnel with a handgun. “Undercover officers from the southern Border Police fired at the terrorist and hit him. There were no casualties to our forces,” stated the police.

The Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by the Hamas terrorist organization, said the Palestinian gunman was seriously wounded.

Tensions with the Gaza Strip have exploded over the past two weeks amid a renewal of violent demonstrations along the border, and as the heads of Palestinian terrorist groups called for a new intifada against the Jewish state.

Hundreds of Palestinians have participated in the riots, hurling bombs and grenades at the security barrier, prompting Israeli forces to respond with riot dispersal methods and in some cases live fire.

Six Palestinians were killed on Sept. 14 when a homemade explosive device they had been attempting to place on the security fence detonated prematurely.

Hamas “sends civilians to the border to create friction with the IDF, so that there are wounded and dead and the press will talk about it,” Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus, the former international spokesperson for Israel’s military, told i24News on Thursday.

“Last week, we saw Palestinians killed by an explosive that they attempted to launch at the IDF, and now we see the use of firearms to kill Israeli soldiers,” said Conricus.

I think it is excellent that we use these images so that the world understands what we are talking about and that the international media does not get carried away by Hamas’s propaganda,” he added.

Image: Terrorists affiliated with the Hamas-led Joint Operations Room attend a ceremony to mark the anniversary of Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, Sept. 20, 2023. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90.