Channel 12 News published new details about a troubling incident that occurred near the Gaza border several days ago.

As Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman revealed on Wednesday, about 50 Hamas terrorists had gathered near the border for a training exercise simulating a raid and takeover of an Israeli yishuv. Despite repeated requests from soldiers in the field to carry out a preemptive strike, commanders refused to authorize the attack.

“If this isn’t a threat that we’re allowed to strike, then what is?” an officer who was present during the incident asked angrily in a conversation with Channel 12. “We wanted to strike, and they wouldn’t authorize it. We feel that our hands are tied in the face of terrorists who are already sitting and planning the next massacre.”

According to the report, the incident occurred at approximately 3 a.m. on Tuesday, when the IDF received real-time intelligence indicating an unusual gathering of some 50 Hamas terrorists engaged in suspicious activity inside the Gaza Strip near the Israeli border.

The IDF initially assessed that the gathering was a routine training exercise but nevertheless prepared for the worst-case scenario: that the terrorists were preparing for a surprise raid into Israel or an assault on one of the IDF posts in the area. In response, the Gaza Division sharply raised its alert level and deployed numerous forces to positions along the border.

The IDF also deployed a Zik UAV to monitor the suspicious activity from the air. However, according to sources familiar with the incident, the drone was unable to visually identify the gathering of terrorists indicated by the intelligence. At that point, soldiers radioed commanders and requested authorization to carry out a preemptive strike in the area where the terrorists were believed to have gathered.

The soldiers made clear that immediate action was necessary to eliminate any possibility of a surprise attack and maintain deterrence. But the response they received from commanders left them frustrated: commanders refused to authorize the strike on the grounds that no specific threat had been visually identified. The forces remained on heightened defensive alert until the morning, when the suspicious gathering dispersed.

The IDF confirmed the details of the report to Channel 12 News, explaining that the strike was not carried out because no unusual gathering was identified through surveillance systems. The military also stressed that, contrary to claims being made, there has been no change in the rules of engagement regarding terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

For the soldiers in the field, however, those explanations were far from satisfactory. Anger among troops in the Gaza Strip is growing amid a strong sense that senior commanders are “tying their hands.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)