IDF strikes targets in Gaza following rocket fire

In less than two weeks, six armed Palestinians were able to infiltrate into southern Israel before being engaged by IDF troops and killed.

On Sunday, Israeli troops shot and killed 26-year-old Marwan Nasser, who opened fire on them while trying to infiltrate. No Israelis were hurt in the incident and surrounding communities were not placed under increased security.

During his funeral Nasser was seen wearing a green bandana associated with Hamas’s military wing, the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades.

The incident came 24 hours after IDF troops shot dead four heavily armed Palestinians, who attempted to infiltrate with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), AK-47 assault rifles and grenades. 

While the military hasn’t yet determined which group was behind the foiled attack, they put the responsibility of the attack squarely on Hamas.

The four militants were identified as former Hamas members 21-year-old Abdullah Ismail Al-Hamaida, 19-year-old Abdullah Ashraf al-Ghomri, 20-year-old Ahmad Ayman al-Adeini and 21-year-old Abdallah al-Masri, all of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

On August 1, an IDF officer and two soldiers were injured and a Hamas militant was killed in an exchange of fire at the border in the area of Kissufim in southern Israel.

Identified as Hani Abu Salah who was a member of Hamas’ border patrol, he was the brother of Fadi Abu Salah, a disabled Palestinian man who was killed by IDF fire during one of the weekly “Great Return March” protests along the border last May. He had been wearing a uniform and was armed with grenades and a Kalashnikov rifle when he infiltrated into Israeli territory from the southern edge of the Hamas-run enclave.

Approximately 70,000 Israelis reside in over 50 communities in the Gaza border area. There has been a marked increase of people moving to the area over the past five years following Operation Protective Edge in 2016.

However, over the past year there have been 10 rounds of violent conflict, causing residents to interrupt their daily lives and remain close to bomb shelters since they only have some 15 seconds to find shelter from rocket and mortar fire. The last round of violence in early May saw over 700 rockets fired towards southern Israel, killing five civilians.

Also on Friday, two Israeli siblings, Noam and Nahum Navi, aged 20 and 18, were injured in the afternoon in a ramming attack near the settlement of Elazar in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank.

Police released dramatic video footage of the attack, which showed a white car with an Israeli license plate speeding on Route 60, then swerving off the road to hit the sister and brother who were standing by the bus stop.

The car then flipped sideways and turned over, landing in back of the bus stop.

Friday’s attack was the third in 10 days. On Thursday, an Israeli policeman was lightly to moderately injured in a Palestinian stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem.

On August 7, an Israeli teen, 18-year-old Dvir Sorek, was stabbed to death by Palestinians near the West Bank settlement of Migdal Oz, not far from the site of Friday’s ramming attack.