The four terrorists who tried to infiltrate Israel early Thursday morning from the southern Gaza Strip came through a tunnel that the IDF had known about for a decade.
As reported by Doron Kadosh on Galai Tzahal (IDF Radio), the tunnel shaft used by the terrorists to get within 200 meters of the border is linked to a tunnel identified by Israel 10 years ago during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Kadosh noted that this tunnel, which reached near Israeli territory, had not been destroyed since the war started. Despite the IDF’s operations in the “buffer zone”—an area extending from hundreds of meters to a kilometer wide along the border—over the past eight months, the tunnel remained intact.
The report suggests that the IDF did not conduct a thorough investigation of the tunnel’s route or destroy its branches approaching the fence. As a result, the terrorists were able to emerge 200 meters from the border using this tunnel.
Additionally, the terrorists accessed the first fence through an opening left for IDF forces, which had not been closed.
Security officials severely criticized the Gaza Division in a discussion with the Israel Defense Forces, stating that the incident could have been prevented both by taking preemptive action against the tunnel and ensuring the fence openings were closed.
On Thursday morning, terrorists attempted to cross the border near Rafah in Gaza, opposite the area between Kerem Shalom and Holit in southern Israel.
Soldiers from the Bedouin surveillance battalion were dispatched to the scene and engaged in a firefight with the terrorists. The skirmish took place just north of Kerem Shalom and lasted several minutes.
During the confrontation, Warrant Officer Zeed Mazarib was killed.
{Matzav.com}
