BICOM

Head of the Shin Bet (Israeli Security Services) Yuval Diskin addressed the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence committee yesterday and said that Al-Qaeda affiliated terror groups were behind some of the violence that has recently occurred in Gaza and along the border with Israel. “There are about 500 militant activists that identify with this idea there, and some are in touch with al-Qaeda’s regional command,” Diskin said. Diskin added that the IDF had foiled 140 terror attacks out of Gaza last year. He also noted that the Egyptians only had 14 kilometres of border with Gaza to protect and could do much more to end the weapons smuggling from Egypt into the Strip.

In the latest developments, IDF soldiers yesterday opened fire on a group of Palestinians approaching the border fence near Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The IDF said later that the Palestinians had detonated an explosive device alongside the border near troops that were doing a routine patrol on the Israeli side of the fence.