By ANNA AHRONHEIM6-8 minutes
At least one PIJ terrorist was killed while placing an IED near
the Gaza border fence. Defense minister says uproar over how body was
retrieved a "hypocritical criticism of the left"
IDF tanks along the Gaza border
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The IDF is increasing the number of Iron Dome missile defense batteries after an IDF bulldozer prevented
Palestinians
from retrieving the body of a suspected terrorist who was killed while
reportedly placing an improvised explosive device near the border fence
with the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning.
Video from the scene
uploaded to social media on Sunday morning showed a crowd of Palestinian
youth throwing stones towards an Israeli bulldozer sent to retrieve the
body of the dead suspect.
He was identified as 27 year-old
Muhammed Ali al-Na’im, a commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s
military wing, the Al-Quds Brigade, in the Khan Younis area.
The
graphic footage showed the bulldozer driving at high speed toward a
group of Palestinian youth to prevent them from taking the body. Several
people were seen carrying one individual, but the bulldozer was seen
lifting the body of the deceased suspect from the ground before it
returned to Israel along with an IDF Merkava tank which had been
guarding it.
— Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) February 23, 2020
Defense
Minister Naftali Bennett called the uproar over retrieval of the
terrorist’s body by the IDF bulldozer as “hypocritical criticism of the
left,” and supported the IDF’s way to collect the body.
“I am
tired of the hypocritical criticism of the left against the ‘inhumane’
use by the bulldozer to retrieve the body of a terrorist who tried to
murder Israelis. Gentlemen, you are not human. Hamas holds the bodies of
Hadar and Oron,” he said, referring to the bodies of two fallen IDF
soldiers in the hands of Hamas since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
“I
support the IDF troops that killed the terrorists and retrieved the
body. It should be done and will be done. We will work intensely in the
face of terrorists.”
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza
was quoted by Maan News Agency as saying that another two men were
injured by IDF gunfire while trying to retrieve the body and the wounded
individual.
According to the IDF’s Spokesperson’s Unit, two
Palestinians were identified approaching the fence and placing an
improvised explosive device on it near the southern city of Khan Younis.
They were fired upon by troops from the military’s Kfir brigade “who
were deployed to the location following the detection” of the suspects.
The
Israeli military said the cell affiliated with the PIJ terror group
which had placed the explosive device near the border fence on Sunday
morning was responsible for two other similar incidents in recent months
near the fence.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad called the incident “a
brutal crime” and vowed to “not let the occupation deal with us as it
does with some Arab states. We are placing our hands on the trigger and
we will avenge the blood of the martyrs by firing on Tel Aviv.”
Last
week, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said that Israel would begin to
“hoard” the bodies of Palestinian terrorists to use as “bargaining
chips” to pressure Hamas to release of the two fallen IDF soldiers and
two Israeli citizens held by the terror group in the Gaza Strip.
This
is the second time in less than a week that IDF troops have opened fire
on Palestinians near Khan Younis. Last week a Palestinian Islamic
Jihad sniper cell fired towards troops stationed near the Gaza border.
Israeli security forces-both IDF and officer’s from the police’s elite
counter-terrorism unit-responded with artillerly fire.
While the IDF said that it had “identified a hit,” there were no Palestinian reports of casualities.
The incidents come as Israel is trying to broker a long-term ceasefire arrangement with the Hamas-run coastal enclave.
On
Saturday evening, former defense minister and Yisrael Beteinu Party
chairman Avigdor Liberman revealed that Mossad director Yossi Cohen and
the Head of the IDF’s Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Herzi Halevi made a
secret visit to Qatar earlier this month.
During the visit, which
lasted less than a day, the two met with the Qatari envoy to the Gaza
Strip Mohammed al-Emadi and Qatari national security advisor Mohammed
Bin Ahmed al-Misnad and reportedly “begged” the Qataris to keep sending
money to the blockaded Strip.
“Both the Egyptians and the Qataris
are angry with Hamas, and they were going to cut all ties with them.
All of a sudden Netanyahu shows up as a Hamas advocate, pressuring Egypt
and the Qataris to continue” Lieberman told Channel 12 news.
Qatar,
who is the main financial provider to Gaza, sends millions of dollars
to Hamas every month. On Friday Doha said it would be increasing aid to
the impoverished Strip and will provide some 120,000 families with $100
dollars by the end of February. Another $24 million will be used to
build a new hospital in Rafah in the southern Strip.
Over a dozen
rockets and mortars as well as countless explosive balloons and condoms
have been fired towards southern Israel, as tension spiked following the
release of US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan at the
end of January.
In mid-February following the launching of several projectiles into southern Israel,
Jerusalem
announced it would reduce the Gaza fishing zone from 15 to 10 nautical
miles, and reduced the number of work permits from 2,000 to 500 for Gaza
businessmen to enter Israel. The restrictions were lifted several days
later.
The restrictions were lifted several days later.
Last
week Bennett warned that “the lawless conduct of Hamas leadership is
bringing us closer to fatal action against them. We will not announce
when or where, but no one will be immune.”
“The State of Israel
does not want a war with Hamas in Gaza, but we have a commitment to the
security of southern residents,” he said. “Hamas faces the choice: to
choose life and economic prosperity or to choose terror and pay an
unbearable price.”
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