IDF forces detected a Palestinian terror cell on its way to infiltrate into Israel via the Gaza border fence this afternoon.The cell's four or five armed members, equipped with Kalashnikov rifles and grenades, approached from a spot just east of Khan Younis and were spotted planting explosives. Israeli paratroopers identified them and opened fire. Four Gazans are dead; several more are injured.
AFP reports that the dead heroes were sent by the peace-loving Hamas regime that rules the Gaza region.
As we wrote here a couple of days ago, Hamas successfully peddled a story to credulous journalists on Saturday of this week that "they would begin cracking down on the fire emerging from the Gaza Strip". This is perfectly accurate if 'cracking down' means funding, encouraging, planning and executing the fire.
Possibly as a means of masking their attack, the Gazans launched a mortar shell assault on the Kissufim crossing at about the same time as the gunman action a few hours ago. And as of now (early evening, Wednesday) there's a search underway for additional Gazan terrorists in the same vicinity.
Today's four dead Gazan Hamas operatives already feature in news reports as additional 'victims' of Israeli nastiness. But the reality is that in this ongoing war, they are armed-to-the-teeth, religiously-inspired barbarians on a mission to strike at any civilian targets within reach.
Their goal is not capture territory or engage the enemy in battle - and certainly not to establish a state for their wives, children and society - but to sow terror and fear among Israelis and others unfortunate enough to be living within firing range of their fortresses and underground arsenals.
What sort of terror and fear?
Eight days ago, the IDF found and blew-up a tunnel created by Hamas 'activists' running from inside Gaza to the Israeli side of the fence, intended to facilitate the kidnapping of Israelis - like the raid that resulted in a teen-age Israeli serviceman, Gilad Shalit, being taken hostage by Hamas terrorists two years ago and held ever since.
This past weekend's tunnel was immediately taken out of service with the help of Israeli explosives. It was certainly not the only such tunnel in service, and it's to be expected that similar shut-downs will happen in the future.
The Hamas Gazan regime, whose stocks of missiles are now enormously replenished after five months of cease-fire with the Israelis, delivered 60 rocket attacks in the past week as its response to the recent tunnel liquidation. Its rocket barrages were intended to emphasize just how much these people want a better education for their children, affordable health-care for their parents, and a brighter future for their community.
It's so hard not to be cynical about their self-destructive hell-hole.
