This morning, a terror attack perpetrated by terrorists in Egypt left an Israeli-Arab father-of-four dead.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday morning’s attack on the border with Egypt would not deter Israel from building the security barrier.
“This barrier is meant both to prevent terrorism and also to prevent the entrance of infiltrators. Its construction is of supreme national interest,” Netanyahu said.
The prime minister ordered security forces to act with determination and resolve against “whoever attacks us from within Egypt.”
Netanyahu said that had the government not decided to build the fence two years ago, the country would today be facing a flood of both terrorists and infiltrators.
Israeli workman Said Phashpashe was killed in the attack. Netanyahu sent his condolences to the family of Phashpashe, a Haifa resident and father of four.
An additional workman was seriously injured in the clash.
“The attack was most likely aimed at Israeli citizens and against people who work on the security fence along the Egyptian border,” Netanyahu stated.
The incident took place at around 6 a.m., along a section of the Egyptian border, located about 30 km. from the Gaza Strip and not far from the Israeli town of Nitzana.
Israeli workmen involved in constructing the border fence were driving in two cars along the border when a road-side bomb went off. The bomb and terrorists were on the Egyptian side of the border, the IDF said. The bomb hit one of the cars which flipped over, killing one of the workmen. Another workman was seriously injured.
A force from Golani immediately arrived at the scene, a gun fight ensued and a bomb carried by one of the terrorists exploded. Two terrorists were killed in the gunfight and the IDF believed that a third terrorist was also involved in the clash, who they believed to be in Sinai.
I’m guessing the fact no Jews were killed would lead the terrorists to consider the attack somewhat of a failure.
Israeli news reported that the IDF moved a number of Merkava tanks up to the border to help protect against additional infiltrations, a move some saw as being in violation of Israel’s (joke of a) peace agreement with Egypt. But as Ynet notes:
Ynet’s chief military commentator Ron Ben Yishai noted that several months ago, Israel and Egypt arrived at an agreement by which Cairo would be able to deploy 20 tanks near the border, to ward off attacks by Bedouins on Egyptian forces, despite the fact that such a move contradicts the peace treaty.
It is likely that the deal also allowed Israel to do the same in favor of increased protection for the area’s communities.
In other news, Israel managed to off a couple of the dopiest looking terrorists you’ll ever see.
