Israel Matzav

Death toll in Eilat rises to eight

The picture is what Eilat looks like on an ordinary day. But Thursday, 20 kilometers north of Eilat, was not an ordinary day.

An IDF counter-terror officer was killed Thursday evening in a firefight with terrorists along the Egyptian border. But before we get to that, let's look at a timeline of Thursday's events, which will add a few new details and organize what happened.

12:00 p.m. –Three terrorists open fire at Egged Bus 392 traveling on Road 12 between Eilat and Mitzpe Ramon. The terrorists infiltrated into Israel from Egypt wore military vests and were heavily armed with assault rifles, roadside bombs and suicide bomb belts. At least 10 passengers were injured.

One IDF soldier was killed while responding to the fire on the bus. (The link says 'second bus,' but the second bus was empty and only the driver was killed there. Also, he was from Ofra according to Israel Radio - not Ofran).

12:20 p.m. – One of the terrorists opens fire at an empty bus that drives by and detonates an explosives belt he is carrying, killing himself and the bus driver. Another terrorist fires an RPG at an IAF helicopter but misses.

The RPG was not reported earlier.

12:25 p.m. – One of the two remaining terrorists opens fire at a passing car, killing four people. An IDF jeep from the Golani Brigade arrives at the scene and runs over the terrorist. Another IDF jeep arrives and as the soldiers get out of the vehicle, the remaining terrorist opens fire, hitting the soldiers.

The four people in the car were civilians. At this writing, as far as I am aware, there is still a prohibition from the IDF censor against publicizing more than that. But it has been reported that the car was hit by an anti-tank missile that was aimed at the second bus.

12:30-1:00 p.m. - IDF soldiers and members of the police’s elite YAMAM counter-terror unit locate the remaining terrorist. A gun battle ensues and the terrorist is killed.

1:30 p.m. – Two terrorists open fire at the troops from within Egyptian territory. The troops return fire and kill the terrorists. The Egyptian military reports to the IDF that its soldiers have killed two additional terrorists in the Sinai.

The implication is that there were only two terrorists killed - by the IDF.

I reported earlier that the IDF retaliated on Thursday night, wiping out the leadership of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC). Here's more on that story:

The PRC terrorists killed in the retaliatory IAF airstrike included the head of the terror group Kamal Nirab, who the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said, personally directed and planned the attack.

Another terrorist killed in the strike was identified as Amas Hamed, commander of the PRC’s military wing and a resident of Rafah. The Shin Bet said that Hamed was involved in the abduction of Gilad Schalit over five years ago and oversaw numerous terror attacks against Israel including suicide bombings and rocket attacks.

Two other known PRC terrorists, including one who was also involved in Schalit’s abduction, were also killed in the airstrike.

“The terrorists were directly involved in the attacks along the Israeli-Egyptian border,” a security official said.

I'd like to know why the IDF didn't kill these people over the last five years if they knew where they were and they knew they were responsible for Shalit's kidnapping. By the way, Iron Dome shot down a Grad rocket headed to Ashkelon on Thursday night.

And finally, the counter-terror officer who became the 8th victim on Thursday.

The officer has been named as 49-year-old Pascal Avrahami [from Jerusalem. CiJ]. He was married and had three children.

Border Police spokesman Shai Hakimi told The Jerusalem Post that Avrahami was taking part in sweeps of the region north of Eilat to search for additional terrorists who remained on the scene when the force came under fire. Police are expected to release the details of his funeral in the near future.

The incident took place while Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz were giving a press conference in the area.

By the way, this article says specifically that the Egyptians killed two people on their side of the border, so maybe my reading of the timeline was inaccurate.

Israel Radio reports that there were four rockets shot at Ashkelon and that Iron Dome knocked down all of them. Israel Radio also reports that Israel had warnings of Thursday's attacks but misinterpreted them.

Labels: Eilat, Gaza, Hamas, Palestinian terrorism, Popular Resistance Committee

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:08 AM