PA police officers
Photo: Reuters
IDF officers cut ties with PA counterparts
Following the swearing-in of the Hamas government IDF officials decide to sever ties to senior officers at Authority. IDF: Activity against Qassam launchers will change drastically
The IDF decided to implement practical measures following the swearing-in ceremony of the Hamas government. On Thursday IDF officers in different regions were instructed to sever all ties and contacts with their Palestinian counterparts, officers of the Preventative Security Forces.
The Preventative Security Forces now answers to the Palestinian Internal Security Office headed by a Hamas member.
In recent weeks the IDF pondered how to react in the field once the Hamas government takes over the Palestinian security forces.
A senior army official said the IDF’s policy against Qassam launching cells will expand significantly, adding that the IDF has operated against these cells from the air, land and sea. On Thursday Palestinian Authority police officers were instructed to leave north Gaza areas from which the Qassam launching cells operate.
‘Terrorists may have more Katyushas’
However, Palestinian Interior Minister on behalf of Hamas, Said Siam, has instructed the officers to stay put, and some have indeed remained.
According to the army official, the IDF is no longer responsibility for the lives of the Palestinian officers, adding that the IDF will respond with no restraints to any Qassam rocket fire directed at Israel.
He said the areas from which the Qassams are fired are not residential ones, and therefore anyone moving about in these areas is involved in some way to the attacks.
As for the Katyusha fired from Gaza at Israel on Tuesday, the official said the launchers intended to fire the rocket some 14 kilometers (9 miles), but it landed only 4 kilometers (about 2.4 miles) from the launching site.
He said the Katyusha was a makeshift one, adding that if the terror organizations had other rockets they would have fired them already. However, the IDF is not ruling out the possibility that the organizations are in possession of additional Katyushas.
