Hamas officials stated before the Eid al-Adha holiday which began on Sunday that they would not prevent attacks by individual Gazans on Israel, after multiple infiltration attempts occurred in the past week, according to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.The terror movement laid responsibility for the recent infiltrations on Israel, citing the harsh living conditions in the Gaza Strip
Hamas sources said that an internal investigation showed that the "last three operations were carried out by members of the military wing of the movement who planned the attacks themselves on the spot and without instructions from the military and political leadership of the movement."
The investigation also found that the terrorists used weapons owned by the terror movement.
When Egyptian mediators requested clarification about the attack attempts, Hamas responded that the actions were done by individuals and that the "occupation bears responsibility because of the continuing difficult humanitarian and economic reality." The terror movement warned that these difficulties could lead "to the loss of control of the border and the repetition of such operations intensively in the future."
According to Al-Akhbar, Hamas rejected a request by the mediators to prevent such attacks, stressing that they don't assume responsibility for individual operations and that they "cannot face them in light of the reality faced by the residents of the Gaza Strip."
Meanwhile, a source close to Hamas said on Tuesday that Hamas security forces are preventing Palestinians from approaching the security fence along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
The source told the Palestinian news agency Amad that Hamas has beefed up its security forces near the border with Israel after three recent thwarted terrorist attacks during which Gazans tried to infiltrate into Israel.
Other sources said that Hamas security forces arrested an armed Palestinian who tried to approach the security fence east of El-Bureij refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. Hamas did not comment on the report.
IDF soldiers on Monday arrested an armed Palestinian man attempting to infiltrate into Israel from the Gaza Strip. The suspect was captured and found carrying a knife along with two bullets, the IDF said.
On Saturday, four heavily armed terrorists were killed while attempting to infiltrate into Israel from the Gaza Strip. A few hours later, the IDF shot and killed a terrorist who opened fire on troops near the security fence.
According to Al-Akhbar, Hamas also warned mediators that delays in agreed upon projects to improve the supply of electricity to the Strip could lead to an explosion of the situation again. Some of the projects that were agreed upon have been implemented, including sewage projects, the supply of fresh water to Gaza and temporary operations by international institutions.
Palestinians have been increasingly launching incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip in an attempt to place pressure on Israel to allow in Qatari funds for poor families in Gaza. In recent days, several fires have been sparked in areas bordering the Gaza Strip.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar promised to throw “hundreds of rockets” on Israel during a meeting he held with residents of Khan Yunis, Channel 13 reported on Tuesday.
According to a report on Channel 12, the Defense Ministry is planning to build a 6 m. high defensive wall inside Israeli territory along a 9 km. stretch of Route 34 between the communities Yad Mordechai and Sderot.It is expected to cost tens of millions of shekels. The Defense Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office are currently discussing where the budget for its construction will come from.The wall, which is meant to provide nearby communities with additional protection from terrorist infiltration, comes in addition to another barrier of large sand berms and tree plantings to protect citizens from threats, such as anti-tank fire emanating from the Strip following the death of an Israeli civilian by a Kornet anti-tank missile fired at his car in May.Khaled Abu Toameh contributed to this report.