IDF strikes Gaza terror cell, thwarts Sinai attack
LAST UPDATED: 12/08/2011 14:09
Senior Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade operative killed in strike was involved in planning the attack, previous suicide bombing
Hamas security forces survey car hit in IAF strike Photo: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
The
IDF thwarted an attack from the Sinai Peninsula on Thursday after the
Air Force bombed targets in the northern Gaza Strip, killing a number of
senior terrorists involved in plotting attacks against Israel.
Palestinians reported that two people were killed in the attack and at least two others injured.
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The
IDF said the cell that was targeted was planning to launch an attack
against Israel from Egypt. One of the operatives. Sobhi Ismail Batash, a
resident of Gaza City, was described as a senior operative in the al
Aksa Martys Brigades and was involved in planning the attack. The IDF
said that the terrorists were supposed to cross from Gaza in to Sinai,
and then into Israel.
Over the past week the IDF has been on high
alert along the border with Egypt amid concern that terrorists were
plotting an attack similar to the one in August when Palestinian and
Egyptian terrorists crossed into Israel and killed eight Israelis.
Batash,
the IDF said, was involved in a 2007 attack when a suicide bomber
crossed from Sinai into Eilat, blowing himself up and killing three
Israelis. He was also involved in other attacks over the years that were
thwarted.
The
killing of Batash marks the first time Israel seemed to target a
specific individual it views as a terrorist leader since the IAF took out a Popular Resistance Committee (PRC) senior commander while he was riding his motorcycle in the Gaza Strip.
Samed Abdul
Mu'ty Abed was killed during a spasm of violence
that broke out between terrorists in Gaza and Israel after armed gunmen
carried out a cross-border terrorist attack north of Eilat that claimed
the lives of eight Israelis.
The PRC denied responsibility for that terror attack.
Former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter warned that Islamic Jihad may try to
return fire onto Israel, Army Radio reported Thursday.
"We're talking about a central figure. I wouldn't be surprised if they
will try to to fire on us, even if only to show symbolically that they
haven't given up," Dichter said.
JPost.com staff contributed to this report.