The Israeli Defense Ministry’s Borders and Seamline Administration began to construct an aboveground security-barrier over the weekend, along the border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The barrier, a six meters-high wall of galvanized steel, will run along the same route as an underground barrier that is currently under construction. The new above-ground barrier will be fitted with “innovative security components.” It will stretch from the maritime barrier that has been built near the southern Israeli beach of Zikim – on the northern edge of the Gaza frontier – and will run some 65 kilometers south, to the Kerem Shalom border-crossing. Israeli security officials assessed in a conversation with TV7 that the new above-ground barrier, which they termed as “the final piece in a multilayered border-defense structure,” would almost completely prevent any possibility of infiltrating the Jewish state.
At the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who also serves as the country’s Defense Minister – announced the beginning of the construction, which he said cogently, ‘will prevent terrorists from penetrating into Israel.’ “Over the weekend we began building the above-ground barrier along the Gaza border. The barrier will prevent terrorists from Gaza from penetrating into our territory on the ground. I would also like to make it clear:,” Netanyahu said.
The construction of the new above-ground border-barrier has angered the Islamist organizations in Gaza, which signaled to Israel that they will not allow it to divide the lands which – according to them – are all occupied Palestinian territories. In response to TV7’s request for additional comment, a Hamas source said that they are closely monitoring the situation and will respond to – what he defined as – “the criminal acts of the Zionist entity.”
Responding to the threats voiced by the Islamist organizations in the Hamas-run enclave, Prime Minister Netanyahu underscored that any move by the Palestinians to escalate the situation on Israel’s southern frontier will be met with a strong-response, even during the election period that is scheduled for the 9th of April. “If the quiet is not maintained in Gaza, we will make the decisions even in the elections period and will not hesitate to act,” Netanyahu said.