Israeli air force helicopter gunships fired four missiles early on Monday at a group of Palestinians preparing to fire Qassam rockets into Israel. Palestinian hospital sources said two people were killed in the strike.
Israeli military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said soldiers spotted militants setting up a rocket launcher, and the helicopters targeted them, hitting one. Ambulances arrived at the scene but hesitated to enter because of Israeli gunfire, witnesses said.
The militants were in a cemetery (nothing is sacred to these bastards, nothing at all.....at least they didn't have to go far for a burial.....Snooker) near Beit Hanun, a Gaza town near the border with Israel, when they were spotted by helicopter gunships which immediately opened fire, the sources said.
"At least one of them was hit," a military official confirmed. Palestinian residents said they thought the missiles had hit an empty field near Israel. They also heard machinegun fire from the helicopters, but they had no immediate reports of casualties.
On Sunday, IDF troops stopped a 14-year-old Palestinian yesterday at the Anabta roadblock east of Tul Karm in the northern West Bank as he attempted to carry a bag with 900 rifle bullets across the roadblock. Soldiers stopped the boy as he tried to get around the checkpoint. Apparently unaware of the contents of the bag, the boy told soldiers a man had paid him NIS 10 to take the bag into Israel. He said the man crossed the checkpoint on foot and boarded a cab for Tulkarm.
Security forces were put on a heightened state of alert Sunday afternoon in Jerusalem due to intelligence information indicating that one or more terrorists were intending to carry out an attack in the area. Checkpoints were set up along Highway 433 from Modi'in to Jerusalem midafternoon, snarling traffic between Beit Horon and the Maccabim checkpoint.
