The IDF has gone on a heightened state of alert in anticipation of large-scale and particularly violent demonstrations along the Gaza border fence, that are expected to be take place tomorrow, the last Friday in the Muslim month of Ramadan. As part of its preparations, the IDF has doubled the number of troops who normally are deployed in the area. The IDF has identified efforts by Hamas to bring tens of thousands of people to the border fence with Israel, in hope of securing a turnout on a scale similar to the turnout on Nakba Day, during which sixty people, most of whom were members of the Islamist organization, were killed in violent riots. The IDF assesses that if its projections about turnout and violence prove to be accurate, there will once again be a high number of Palestinian casualties, given Hamas’s intention to try to commit terror attacks and to breach the fence to infiltrate Israeli territory.
