Hamas terrorists tried swimming to Israeli territory from tunnel on Gaza Strip, Israeli military says
Israeli Naval forces foil Hamas' attempted invasion by sea, IDF video shows
Israeli forces foiled an attempt by at least two Hamas terrorists to infiltrate Israel by sea on Tuesday, Israeli Defense Forces said. (Credit: Israel Defense Forces)
Israeli fighter jets and navy soldiers thwarted Hamas terrorists that were attempting to infiltrate Israel by sea on Tuesday, according to footage released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) early Wednesday.
The video shows at least two individuals swimming from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli territory near Zikim, the IDF said.
"The terrorists exited through a tunnel shaft located on the coast of the Gaza Strip and were struck by IDF fighter jets and Naval soldiers," the IDF said. "In addition, IDF fighter jets and Naval soldiers struck a weapons storage facility that was used by the terrorists."
The video also shows Israeli forces striking the suspected tunnel shaft on the Gaza coast and the weapons storage facility, according to the IDF.
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Israeli Naval forces spotted at least two Hamas terrorists swimming toward Israel on Tuesday, the IDF said. (Israel Defense Forces)
Fox News' Trey Yingst reported from Israel Wednesday at noon local time that small arms fire took place overnight near the beach of Zikim, which sits between Israel and Gaza, to which the Israeli military responded by firing flares.
Two Hamas terrorists were killed during the infiltration attempt, Yingst reported, adding that the group has a "frogman unit" made up of trained scuba divers who attempt to access Israeli territory from the Mediterranean Sea.
"It was absolutely a suicide mission. The Israelis have locked down the beach, the sea. They have naval ships off the coast of Gaza and Israel. They've got infantry troops along the northern part of the Gaza Strip," Yingst explained, adding that the attempt didn't "make sense."
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Hamas has attempted to infiltrate Israel by sea before. The IDF released video last week which it says shows an Israeli Navy squad spraying machine gun fire on multiple Hamas terrorists trying to reach Israel’s coastline near the city of Ashdod on the morning of the surprise attack on Oct. 7.
The IDF said that a tunnel the Hamas terrorist cell exited from before swimming toward Israeli territory was struck. (Israel Defense Forces)
More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the initial Hamas attack, in which 222 people including foreigners were taken captive into Gaza. Four hostages have been released so far.
A weapons storage facility used by Hamas terrorists was also struck, the IDF said. (Israel Defense Forces)
Israeli forces have since been bombarding the Gaza Strip with airstrikes ahead of a looming ground assault. The Hamas-run Health Ministry claims at least 5,791 Palestinians have been killed and 16,297 wounded.
Fox News' Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
