Illustrative Palestinian banner of gunmen and Dome of the Rock. By Joshua Spurlock
Tens of thousands of Gazans rioted on the Israeli border last Friday, wielding Molotov cocktails, burning tires and attempting terrorism against Israel’s Gaza border security system. During the rioting, the IDF killed at least 10 known terrorists with a history of involvement in attacks, the IDF Spokesperson tweeted, later following up with photos of all ten terrorists.
During the riots, which Hamas dubbed the “Great Return March” and claimed would be peaceful, a terror cell opened fire on Israeli forces, the IDF Spokesperson Twitter feed reported. A follow-up Tweet said that in response, the IDF—“according to the rules of engagement”—fired at the terrorists and then further struck three Hamas terror sites.
The IDF Spokesperson tweeted that “this severe shooting attack is further proof that the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip use these violent riots to camouflage terror.” A separate tweet highlighted that Israeli tanks prevented an infiltration attempt by terrorists trying to break across the border. Tweeted the IDF Spokesperson, “The Hamas terror organization is responsible for violent riots and everything taking place under its jurisdiction. The IDF will not allow the security fence to be turned into an area of terror.”
IDF Spokesperson Maj. Keren Hajioff detailed the Gaza riots in a summary video posted to the IDF Spokesperson’s Twitter feed. She noted that more than 30,000 Palestinians participated in the riots that included molotovs, burning tires and efforts to “harm or destroy Israel’s security infrastructure.”
Haijoff said, “Our soldiers precisely targeted the specific terrorists that attempted to carry out these attacks of terror, some of them known terrorists to our security forces.”
She further highlighted that Hamas used “innocent civilians as tools of terror” and said that a 7-year-old girl was “forced to cross the border into Israel. Thankfully, IDF soldiers identified her and brought her back to her parents in Gaza without harm.”
The presence of children certainly didn’t make the protests peaceful. Israeli Prime Minister ‘s Office Spokesman Ofir Gendelman posted to Twitter photos of an assault rifle and a grenade found with Gaza terrorists who attacked Israeli soldiers. “Palestinians say they were peaceful protesters. In what world?” tweeted Gendelman.
He separately tweeted that even Hamas had specifically called out that some of those killed were members of the terrorist organization. Those were not the only operatives.
Gendelman said that a spokesman for the political faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas claimed that “14 of those killed yesterday in the #GreatReturnMarch while trying to attack Israeli territory were Fatah members, trying to outscore Hamas who claims 5 were its members. By that he admits that none were peaceful protestors.”
Gendelman also tweeted that Hamas claimed one of the terrorists killed by Israel as just being an artist, conveniently leaving out that he “was a Hamas’ terrorist, whose job was to dig terror tunnels into Israel. Never believe anything Hamas says.” Gendelman included a photo of the “artist” holding a rifle in camouflage with the Temple Mount in a poster behind him.
Said spokesperson Maj. Hajioff, “The IDF will operate to contain the violent rioters. The IDF will continue to act against any violation of Israeli sovereignty and any attempt to hurt its civilians.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, April 1, 2018)