The infiltration took place amid a relatively calm period along the Israeli-Gazan border.
By United With Israel Staff
Even as Israel grapples with rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip and massive protests along the Gazan border with Israel, the Israeli military continues to be on the lookout for incidents on a smaller scale but which can still lead to attacks on Israeli soldiers.
“IDF troops fired at three suspects who had crossed into Israeli territory from the southern Gaza Strip. Knives were found in their possession,” said an Israeli military statement which was released on Wednesday night. The AFP news agency reported that the three were taken to an Israeli hospital.
The overall situation along the border has quieted down as Egypt has mediated between Israel and the Hamas terror group on calming the situation. Israel has taken goodwill gestures which include opening border crossings to pedestrians and commercial activity as well as extending the fishing zone off the Gazan coast.
Israel has been encouraging an effort on the part of the United Nations and Qatar to improve the standard of living of Gazans with the hope that better socio-economic conditions would discourage terror.
Israel captured the Gaza Strip in the 1967 war but withdrew in 2005. In 2007, Hamas overthrew the Palestinian Authority in the Strip.
“I am not engaging in needless wars. I want to use the force that is necessary and I am willing to pay the price, but only when it is necessary,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview on Thursday with Israeli public radio, explaining that Israeli forces are mobilized and even ready to take control of Gaza if necessary, but that “I want every mother and father to know that I am not sending their children to war without exhausting all other options,” said the prime minister.
On Wednesday, Palestinian terror groups in Gaza reportedly agreed to stop not only rocket attacks but also the launching of incendiary kites and balloons into Israel which in the past has caused $9.5 million in damage to the fields of Israeli farmers to date and anxiety among Israeli civilians.
Critics have countered that Israel must strike at the core of the terror groups, amid air attacks on southern Israel and also the center of the country, and not cease fighting back at the behest of the terrorists who agree to stop their attacks on Israel only because they believe that it would be strategically beneficial to them to stop for the time being.
Israeli cabinet ministers have argued that Hamas and other terror organizations cannot be allowed to set the guidelines for when it is permissible for Israel to defend itself and when the Jewish State must stop.
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