The IDF thwarted an attack from the Sinai Peninsula on Thursday after the Air Force bombed targets in northern Gaza, killing a number of senior Hamas terrorists involved in plotting attacks against Israel.
The IDF said the cell that was targeted was planning to launch an attack against Israel from Egypt. One of the operatives. Assam 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.