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Israel\’s response to the bomb attack on the Gaza border Tuesday morning that wounded an IDF officer will be "very hard," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned.
Netanyahu´s comments, issued at the beginning of a meeting with visiting Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, came in response to an attack earlier in the day that critically wounded an IDF officer during a routine patrol near the Gaza border fence.
Paramedics treated the officer on site; a helicopter then evacuated him to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba.
Military sources said an explosion was heard in the vicinity where the officer was injured. The IDF was investigating the circumstances of the incident.
The IDF Spokesman\’s Office stated that terror organizations have repeatedly used the area adjacent to the Gaza security fence where the officer was injured for laying explosive devices and attempting to execute terror attacks. Last week, an explosive device detonated against IDF soldiers in the same area caused damage to a military vehicle, according to the IDF.
During a joint press conference with Plevneliev, Netanyahu alluded to Iran\’s involvement in the ongoing terror emanating from Gaza, saying Israel was engaged in a "hard battle" with the Iranian-organized world terror network and that terrorists in the Strip were getting their directions "from afar."
Although Bulgaria has not yet formally pointed a finger at Iran for the attack against Israeli tourists there this summer, Netanyahu also described that attack as an example of the Iranian terror network at work.
"Iran supported Hezbollah\’s terror attacks in Bulgaria; Iran is supporting terror attacks now against us in Gaza," he said.
"We will fight and we will hit them very, very hard – very hard," Netanyahu said. "That\’s the only way to fight them. The way to fight terror is to fight terror, and that we shall do with great force."
On Monday, the Israel Air Force bombed two Palestinian terrorist cells in northern Gaza about to carry out mortar attacks on southern Israel.
The air strikes accurately struck the cells, the IDF said. Palestinian sources said that two terrorists were killed in the IAF strike on Monday morning and two more were injured.
Earlier in the morning, terrorists fired mortar shells at an IDF force carrying out a routine patrol along northern Gaza. Soldiers returned fire.
In addition, four rockets fired from the coastal territory landed in open areas in the Sha\’ar Hanegev and Ashkelon Coast Regional Council areas. No injuries or damage were reported in the attacks.
Last week saw an escalation in hostilities on the Gaza front, with dozens of rockets falling on southern Israel and the IAF striking centers of terror activity in response.