Israel – Warplanes bombed tunnels beneath the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt Saturday killing two Palestinians, after militants fired several mortars at Israel from the coastal territory.
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Medical workers who reached the area hours after the attacks said they had recovered the bodies of two Palestinian men involved in digging the subterranean passages Israel says are used to smuggle weapons into Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The men were the first fatalities in Israeli-Palestinian violence since early March when an Israeli missile killed a Palestinian militant Israel said was preparing to launch a rocket.
An Israeli military spokesman said Saturday’s strikes targeted three tunnels used to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip near the town of Rafah, along the Egyptian border.
Israel had resumed aerial attacks Friday on the tunnels after a nearly two-month hiatus in fighting, after a rocket fired from Gaza struck inside Israel.
Israel said three mortars were fired at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip Saturday, causing no casualties. The Palestinian Resistance Committees, a militant group in Gaza, claimed it had fired the mortars Saturday.
Rocket fire had dropped significantly since Egypt began efforts to consolidate the January 18 truce that ended Israel’s 22-day offensive against Gaza’s Islamic militants.
Violence also was reported Saturday in the West Bank where two Palestinian men were shot and wounded in clashes with Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers, Palestinian medical workers said.
Police arrested four Jewish settlers including two Israel Defense Forces soldiers on home leave Saturday for allegedly firing indiscriminately at the West Bank village of Khirbet Safa, near the settlement of Bat Ayin.
Settlers had assembled on a hill overlooking the village on the 30-day anniversary of the murder of Bat Ayin teenager Shlomo Nativ, who was killed by a resident of Khirbet Safa.
They began shooting at the village when an IDF patrol ordered them to leave. The IDF Spokesman’s Office said the settlers opened fire “without any reason.” The spokesman called the settlers’ actions “an unnecessary and dangerous provocation.”
Around half the settlers on the hilltop headed toward the village. Settlers and local Palestinians began throwing stones at each other until army units arrived. The IDF removed the settlers from the village and fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullets at the Palestinians. The confrontation between the Palestinians and IDF lasted hours.
IDF sources said two Palestinians were wounded, but it was not clear if they were hurt when the settlers opened fire or during the clashes with the IDF.
Police are concerned that members of the settlement, the home to a number of right-wing extremists, might seek to avenge Nativ’s death. Five years ago the Shin Bet arrested a number of Bat Ayin residents who were members of a Jewish underground cell that had planned to bomb Arab schools in East Jerusalem.
bb is doing a great job behind the scenes so keep it up bb and show those palestine swines what we can do !!!
should of killed more of them.
This is the way to go. Cut off their supplies. Seize whatever is in these tunnels. All this stuff costs them critical money. How long will the people of Gaza put up with these terrorists buying weapons when there is no money for food.