IDF responds to Gaza border riots, strikes Hamas military position

Israel Defense Forces struck a military position belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization on Monday.

The airstrike was reportedly a response to several Gaza border attacks against Israel, including border riots and incendiary balloons during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. 

The IDF confirmed in an official statement that one of its drones had "struck a military post belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization." The Israeli military further added that the Hamas post was adjacent to an area from which Gazan terrorists fired at IDF soldiers “during a violent protest.” 

The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip, run by Hamas, reported that “Israeli bullets” had injured two Gazan border rioters during the Monday clashes. The IDF confirmed the incident but confirmed that "soldiers responded with live fire toward an assailant … and hit him."

Dozens of Gazans rioted along the border, firing guns, using burned tires and throwing homemade bombs at Israeli soldiers on the border. 

The fundamentalist Islamist organization Hamas has ruled Gaza since its violent takeover in 2007, when it ousted the Palestinian Authority from the coastal enclave. Since then, Hamas and the smaller Iranian-backed rival Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have provoked numerous larger and smaller military confrontations against Israel. 

Violent rallies at the Gaza-Israel border have become a common propaganda technique for the Hamas terror organization, as they attempt to provoke a strong Israeli military response and then pressure the international community to condemn Israel for using “excessive force.” 

In early September, Hamas announced it would reactivate its “return camps” along the border between Gaza and Israel. The Supreme National Committee in Gaza, which consists of several Gaza-based terror groups, reportedly voted in favor of resuming the violent border riots against Israel. The first Hamas-coordinated “Great March of Return” border riots against Israel took place between March 2018 and December 2019. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant assessed the security during a visit to the Israel-Gaza border area where he was briefed by the IDF chief of staff and other top-level Israeli military officials. 

Gallant tried to reassure the Israeli public that the Israeli military was prepared for all eventualities. 

Israeli authorities announced ahead of the Yom Kippur holiday that it would strengthen its Gaza border battalions in preparation for the violent confrontations that were expected.

“The IDF and its soldiers, along with the entire security establishment, are standing guard – in the air, at sea, and on land,” Gallant stated. 

Egypt has reportedly been working since June to achieve a long-term truce between Hamas and Israel.

In May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and expressed Jerusalem’s appreciation for Cairo’s “intensive efforts to secure a ceasefire” between Israel and the Gaza-based PIJ terror group. Israeli forces eliminated several top PIJ commanders after the terror group had launched more than 100 rockets into Israel.