by Daniel Siryoti, Lilach Shoval and Shlomi Diaz
Video intercepted after arrest of top Hamas operative shows close Palestinian surveillance of Israeli passenger train line • Footage shot from vantage point only several hundred meters from border • IDF and Israel Railways working to devise solution.
Hamas
footage of Israel Railways train approaching Sderot
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Photo credit: Channel 2
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A new train line from Ashkelon to Sderot may be vulnerable
to missile fire from the Gaza Strip, a new Hamas video suggests. The video,
found by Israeli forces in Gaza, depicts detailed Palestinian surveillance of an
Israeli passenger train.
The train line, only a few months old, was built to link
the southern city of Sderot to the center of Israel. All the stations are fully
protected against missile attacks. But now it has emerged that the Palestinians
are monitoring the train line from a vantage point only several hundred meters
from the border.
An unnamed official involved in the incident told Israel
Hayom that the footage was recovered after a recent arrest of a senior Hamas
operative in Gaza.
Following a deadly attack in 2011, in which terrorists
fired an anti-tank missile at a school bus near the Gaza border and killed one
child, the IDF has made sure to remove trees and shrubbery from the area so as
to prevent Hamas from setting up observation posts and firing missiles at
vehicles.
But as the video shows, the train is vulnerable to
precisely such attacks, especially since there are countless anti-tank missiles
in Gaza.
Israel Railways and the IDF Southern Command are currently
working to devise a solution to protect the exposed stretch of track. The IDF
has raised a number of possibilities that could cost millions of shekels to
implement.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit issued a statement, saying
"The IDF has made its recommendations to the government, which will make the
final decision on this topic."
The Transportation Ministry said that "the plan for this
[train] line was approved years ago and it did not include a tunnel. Before the
line was launched, the IDF pledged to make sure this part of the line would be
protected, and it is the IDF's job to do so."
Daniel Siryoti, Lilach Shoval and Shlomi Diaz
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=17589
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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