Israel will take measures to protect southern communities from anti-tank fire
Decision comes following deadly Kornet attack last week.
By ANNA AHRONHEIMThe vehicle that sustained a direct hit from a rocket near Yad Mordechai(photo credit: POLICE SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Israel will build a protective wall to shield communities and the trains traveling close to the border with the Gaza Strip, Channel 12 reported on Monday.The move came following the deadly round of fighting earlier this month when 68-year-old Moshe Feder was killed after a Kornet anti-tank missile fired by Hamas struck his car near Kibbutz Erez.Several hours after the attack, the IDF acknowledged that it had failed to recognize the risks posed to cars driving on roads near the Gaza border.According to the report, several kilometers of roads near the border will be obscured from the view of potential attackers by three-meter-high walls, ramps and trees.A community believed to be at risk of anti-tank fire will also be protected by similar walls, and a new road will be built because of the fear that the entrance to the community is a target for terror groups from the Strip.The construction of the new defensive measures was agreed to by representatives of the Defense, Finance and Transportation ministries, who met on Monday at the Prime Minister’s Office.It is expected to cost NIS 100 million and begin once the new government is formed in two weeks.The report came as the IDF is preparing for thousands of Gazans to protest on Wednesday for the annual commemoration of Nakba (“Catastrophe”) Day. The organizing committee of the weekly “March of Return” protest in Gaza has called for a general strike on Wednesday, calling on Gazans to join marches along the border with Israel.Nakba Day comes a week after the two-day escalation of hostilities between Israel and terrorist groups in the Strip saw close to 700 rockets fired by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, killing four Israeli civilians. Israel struck hundreds of targets in the coastal enclave in retaliation, killing 25 Palestinians.On Saturday, senior Islamic Jihad figure in the Gaza Strip Khaled al-Batash threatened Israel with another round of violence if it fails to commit itself to the ceasefire understandings, warning that, “if Israel does not fulfill its side of the agreement, the resistance has the means to force it to. We will continue to defend our people until the implementation of the understandings.”
