Israel bracing for Hamas rocket attack from Gaza after deadly West Bank raids

SEPTEMBER 26, 2021 15:46

The IDF is bracing for a possible barrage of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip later on Sunday in response to the deaths of at least five Palestinians in a wave of Israeli arrest operations across the West Bank.

Two IDF soldiers were injured and five Palestinians were killed during clashes in a series of anti-Hamas operations across the West Bank. The wave of arrests in five different locations in the West Bank targeted a Hamas cell that Israeli security forces had been tracking for several days and was planning an attack. The raids were led by the Duvdevan counter-terrorism unit as well as the Israel Police and Border Police YAMAM and YAMAS counter-terrorism units and the Shin Bet security services.

IDF sources said that it was possible that Hamas would decide to fire rockets from Gaza in response to the operation.

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“This was a Hamas cell, one that we have been following for a long time with intelligence from the Shin Bet. There’s always a chance that there can be rockets, especially since this was a Hamas cell and the group is always trying to connect Gaza to the West Bank,” IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ran Kochav said Sunday afternoon.