Cameraman
Killed by Sniper in Israel;
Secret Tunnel to Egypt Destroyed
19 year old
cameraman with the Israel Defense Forces, Cpl. Lior Ziv, was killed
early Sunday and three other soldiers were wounded during an operation
to destroy a Hamas smuggling tunnel in Rafah. Ziv, a still photographer
from the IDF Spokesman’s Office, was shot dead by a Palestinian
sniper as he was filming the tunnels the army had discovered and
destroyed.
A video photographer
with the IDF was working alongside Ziv when he was killed, Durel
Gillerman was wounded during the Palestinian sniper attack. Two
medics who rushed to save them were also fired at and wounded,
one was seriously hurt. The wounded were quickly evacuated to
Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva.
The IDF operation
began late Saturday night when Givati brigade infantrymen and
engineers in armored vehicles entered the Sabora neighborhood
of Rafah in an attempt to find and destroy tunnels used for smuggling
weapons from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. Soldiers were met by unusually
stiff resistance, including light weapons, anti-tank grenades,
hand grenades, and home-made bombs. Soldiers uncovered and blew
up a large tunnel – 30 meters deep, 300 meters long and 60 centimeters
wide – used by Hamas for its terror activities.
Five Palestinian
terrorists were killed and 30 others were wounded in the operation.
Stopping illegal arms from coming into Israel from Egypt may have
saved countless lives, but Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat
sounds more like Iraq’s infamous former Information Minister,
Mohammed al-Sahhaf, telling Reuters: "The Israeli attack
and escalation is aimed at one thing: sabotaging the road map
and the peace process."
Hamas terrorists
launched an assault on Israeli communities soon after the operation.
Two Qassam rockets were fired at the southern Israeli town of
Sderot, slightly wounding an Israeli woman who suffered from smoke
inhalation after the rocket started a fire in her apartment. A
number of mortars were also fired at Gush Katif communities, causing
no casualties. Two mortar shells were fired Monday afternoon at
IDF forces at the Sufa crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, causing
no injuries or damage.
Fighting terror
in the West Bank Monday, security forces operating in Nablus,
arrested a Palestinian woman suspected of planning a suicide attack
inside Israel. The woman, who is in her mid-twenties and was identified
as Feyroz Ahmed Mahmoud Makhil, was arrested in the city’s Balata
refugee camp. Another wanted Fatah terrorist was arrested during
the raid. In the Ramallah area, forces arrested three Palestinian
men wanted for questioning.
According
to ISRAEL RADIO, security forces across the country were still
on high alert Monday – the fourth day of the Passover holiday
– as the number of specific terror warnings remained unchanged.
In Hebron, the IDF imposed a curfew on the Palestinian neighborhoods
adjacent to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is expected to draw
tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims during the Passover holiday.
Security has also been beefed up in Eastern Jerusalem, where thousands
were to mark the holiday.
Sources
from the New York Israeli Consulate contributed to this story