BICOM

Key points

• A combined terror attack took place yesterday against Israeli vehicles near the Israeli-Egypt border. Eight Israelis are reported to have been killed and thirty were injured in the attack.
• There has been a sharp deterioration in the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula over the past months. Egyptian forces have operated in Sinai in recent days against extensive terror activity that has been affiliated with Al-Qaeda and with terror groups emanating from Gaza.
• The attack was planned in the Gaza Strip by the Popular Resistance Committees and perpetrated by terrorists who crossed from Gaza into Sinai via smuggling tunnels.

What happened yesterday?

• The incident started when an Israeli bus was attacked today on Road 12 near the southern city of Eilat. A terrorist group opened fire on the bus injuring 10 passengers including several soldiers who were on board.
• Shortly after, an IDF vehicle heading to assist the bus was hit by a roadside bomb on the Israeli side of the border. There were also reports of mortar fire from Egypt into Israel.
• The terrorists continued to drive along the road and approximately two kilometres from the first attack, fired an anti-tank missile at another vehicle, injuring seven passengers.
• At the same time, another terror cell fired an anti-tank missile at a car, killing four passengers.
• Special Forces of the Israeli Police accompanied by military helicopters arrived at the scene and in the ensuing gunfight, seven terrorists were killed.
• Defence Minister Barak convened a special security assessment and will determine Israel response to the severe events.
• IDF assessments suggest that the terrorists infiltrated Israel after crossing into Sinai Peninsula from the Gaza Strip. They then traveled some 200 kilometers to reach an area of the border protected only by a wire fence, about 15 kilometers north of Eilat.
• Overnight, Israel received a Jordanian intelligence alert of an imminent terror attack. Following this, security forces in the south were put on high alert, which enabled the quick response of Special Forces to the attack.
• Later in the evening Israel Air Force jets targeted a group of senior PRC officials in Rafah, a Gazan town on the Sinai border. Among the six people killed were Kamel Nirab, the head of the PRC; Imad Hamed, the person responsible for its military activity in Gaza; Khaled Shaath, a leading member of the PRC’s military wing who was involved in rocket attacks on Israel; and Khaled Masri, who was involved in kidnapping soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006. The Shin Bet security service suspects that Hamed is the one who planned yesterday’s attack near Eilat.

What is the background to the attack?

• There has been a sharp deterioration in the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula over the past months. In particular, the toppling of former president Hosni Mubarak has led to increased terrorist activity in Sinai, and greater movement of arms and terrorists crossing from the Gaza Strip into Egypt. The problem has become particularly acute since Egypt relaxed restrictions in the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Sinai.
• The group responsible for yesterday’s attacks in the south of Israel was the Popular Resistance Committees. It is one of several terror groups that have sought to take advantage of the loose security situation in the Sinai Peninsula.
• In the past months the Egyptian gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan was hit five times by terrorists. Natural gas supply was consequently halted for extended periods.
• In recent days, Egyptian police and military forces launched an operation aimed at curbing terror activity in Sinai. Several terrorists have been killed in the operation and dozens were arrested.
• Last year, missiles were fired from Sinai toward Israel’s southern coastal city of Eilat. The missiles landed in the nearby Jordanian port city of Aqaba. Eilat was hit in January 2007 by a suicide bomber, killing three people.

Read more

• BICOM Analysis: Change in Egypt and the implications for Israel