Security forces expect possible violence day after 2 soldiers shot and wounded near border, Hamas operatives killed in Israeli retaliatory strikes
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The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday morning closed off roads and several sites near the Gaza Strip border, anticipating a possible escalation of violence along the frontier.
The popular Zikim beach, located about 2 kilometers (1.5 miles) north of the border, was also closed off.
The move comes a day after two soldiers were shot and injured while on patrol near the border in southern Gaza. One soldier was moderately wounded in the attack and a female soldier was lightly hurt, the IDF said.
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It was not clear who was behind the shooting.
In response to the shooting, an IDF aircraft attacked a nearby Hamas post, the army said. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said two people were killed in the strike and two others were wounded.
Hamas, an Islamist terror group, confirmed the two men killed in the airstrike were members of its military wing and pledged to respond to what it called “Israeli aggression.”
The Hebrew-language Twitter account of the Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency issued a threat to Israel Friday night: “We will respond to the crimes of the occupation and the killing of our people.”
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad also said it held Israel responsible for the deaths.
The incidents, which marked a serious escalation, came during weekly border protests in which several thousand Gazans gathered at five sites. Some of the demonstrators rioted, throwing rocks and makeshift explosive devices at soldiers, who responded with tear gas and occasional live fire.
A third Palestinian was killed during the border riots, the Gaza health ministry said, identifying him as Ra’ed Khalil Abu Tayyer, 19, adding that 40 protesters had been injured. The IDF said troops had identified several attempts to breach the fence.
Overnight Friday, a fourth Palestinian died from injuries sustained during the riots, according to Hebrew media reports.
Earlier Friday, Israeli troops arrested a Palestinian man who crossed the northern Gaza border security fence, the army said, adding that the soldiers who searched him discovered a knife.
A balloon from Gaza carrying an incendiary device set off a brushfire near the town of Tekuma five kilometers east of the coastal enclave. Firefighters managed to put out the blaze shortly after it was detected.
On Thursday, a Hamas delegation led by the group’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar traveled to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials on a truce with Israel, Hamas officials said.
That agreement has appeared to be under stress in recent days, with Palestinians launching arson balloons and rockets into Israel and Israeli warplanes striking Hamas targets.
Hamas has said the incendiary balloons were a message to Israel not to hold up the transfer of millions of dollars in Qatari aid funds to the cash-strapped Hamas government in Gaza.
Islamic Jihad, a Hamas-allied group backed by Iran, said its head would also attend the meetings.
Israel’s air force carried out air raids early Thursday morning on “a number of terror targets in a Hamas military compound in the northern Gaza Strip,” a military statement said. It said they were in response to the launching of incendiary and explosive balloons from Gaza into Israel.
Palestinian terrorists responded by launching two rockets into southern Israel. The projectiles fell in an open area, and no injuries were reported.
Hamas, which seeks to destroy Israel, seized control of Gaza from Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction in a violent 2007 coup.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
Content retrieved from: https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-closes-off-roads-beach-near-gaza-strip-for-fear-of-attacks/.