Voice of Israel’s Reshet Bet, Israel’s most listened-to station, broadcast on its 10:30 news flash this morning that IDF forces killed a terrorist as he and an accomplice tried to climb the border fence in Gaza near Kibbutz Nachal Oz. The broadcast stated blankly, “the terrorists were not armed.” The report neglected to mention, however, that they were equipped with maps of the area and were reconnoitering the site for a future attack.

An anti-tank shell fired at N’vei Dekalim last night, following seven shells the night before, has brought the total number of rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists at Gush Katif and environs in the past three years to 3,500. Local residents have initiated an on-line Hebrew-language petition (at “www.katif.net/patzmar/bpatzmar.php”) demanding an “appropriate military response” to end this situation.

Though none of the recent rocket attacks led to injuries, the three shells that hit N’vei Dekalim on Monday night were accompanied by minor miracles. Katif.net reports that one shell hit a spot where only a minute earlier, a boy bouncing a basketball was asked to leave by a man who was not enamored with the monotonous sound. A second shell hit the porch of a home where only a few minutes earlier, a visiting family was sitting until their host invited them to come indoors, as it was “getting chilly.” The guests’ car was damaged, as was the door of the home. In the third incident, the shell exploded only eight inches from the wall of a house, hitting and destroying an air conditioning unit instead. A woman inside the house was treated for shock after her home was filled with gas from the destroyed a/c unit.

Two large bombs were found outside the Gush Katif community of Ganei Tal yesterday afternoon, and IDF sappers worked for over four hours to neutralize them. Cellular phone service was disabled while the explosives were being dismantled.

Maariv reported today that “military sources reported that weapons smuggling via the tunnels on the Israeli-Egyptian border have stopped totally” - but Arutz-7’s Kobi Finkler says it’s not true. A top IDF commander in Gaza told him early this afternoon that “all sorts of military sources can always be quoted, but nobody can guarantee that weapons smuggling has stopped.” The officer said that of the 15 tunnels in operation two weeks ago, seven now remain, and that Egypt continues to do nothing to stop the smuggling.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2003 and is filed under hotnews.