The writing has long been on the wall. What is happening near the settlement of Bat Hefer is similar to what happened in the settlements surrounding Gaza before October 7. Even in the seats of the Upper Galilee, they found it hard to believe that Hezbollah was digging tunnels. When residents near the northern border claimed that they heard the sounds of digging under the living room of their home, the IDF claimed that the soil in the north does not allow for the digging of tunnels. In a short time it became clear that Hezbollah had dug a branching network of tunnels, which reached the entrance of several of the settlements in the Upper Galilee.
“We are in a combat zone, it’s absurd”: Bat Hefer residents are angry and feel neglected
The children and parents at the seam line are panicking: “terrorists just decided to shoot bunches”
For a long time now, Hamas terrorists have been firing volleys at Bat Hefer. Security officials claim that in recent months many terrorists have been killed who fired at the settlements, but the shooting not only continues, but intensifies. Hamas pays between 500 and 1,500 shekels to every terrorist who manages to film himself opening fire on an Israeli settlement and manages to escape and distribute the video he took. This is why a wave of videos taken in the Bat Hefer area is flooding social networks.
Hamas has an interest in demonstrating its ability and showing that there has also been a security escalation in the Bat Hefer area, and it is succeeding in this. The former Minister of Justice, and who was a member of the Defense Cabinet MK Gideon Sa’ar, said that the shooting from Jenin towards the Gilboa requires immediate and effective treatment, and called on the “failed war cabinet” to intervene in this. The impression of the residents of Bat Hefer and the nearby settlements is that there has been no change in the situation .
Yesterday (Wednesday) terrorists were recorded from Tulkarm, with green ribbons on their heads and they were shooting towards the settlement, but no one saw the security forces intervening. What used to be a fleeting event, has become a life-threatening daily event. The residents of the settlement of Gan Ner in the Menashe division are also under constant threat, and they located in the settlement bullets that were fired at short range.
All of this happens eight months after the massacre in the Gaza Envelope, and when the Jalma crossing was opened for the first time to allow thousands of Israeli Arabs to enter Jenin, to strengthen the collapsing Palestinian economy. Asher Kaso, who contested for the presidency of the Emek Hefer Regional Council, says that already in January he sued the security system to intervene, after he discovered the entry of illegal residents through ropes into the area’s settlements. According to him, the illegal residents did so by jumping over the concrete separation fence, using ropes, with which they dangled to the Israeli side.
The ongoing security coordinator of the Bat Hefer settlement Bnei Ziprot Furious that when the writing was on the wall, they chose to ignore it. It was the neglect that led to the fact that the residents of Bat Hefer began to suffer from direct terrorism against them. Everyone is waiting for the Shin Bet, which will find out who is behind the organizing in the settlements near the fence. This may take time. Until then, a regular or reserve army man must be appointed to manage the defense. It is appropriate that this be done as soon as possible.
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