Truce won't prevent us from responding, Peretz says

VIDEO - The suicide bomber who carried out the terror attack in Eilat Monday morning infiltrated Israel through the breached border with Egypt, defense establishment officials said. Three people were killed in the attack, which took place in a bakery. However, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet are still looking into other possibilities and other routes the terrorist may have taken on his way to the southern city. Defense Minister Amir Peretz held a special consultation following the Eilat bombing. Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and senior defense establishment officials took part in the meeting. Peretz instructed the IDF to prepare for operation activities and to operate against the infiltration routes into Israel. After the meeting Peretz said, "No terror organization will get away and the ceasefire will not prevent us from hitting them." In spite of Peretz's firm remarks, sources in the defense establishment estimated that the IDF would not launch a significant operation in response to the attack, mainly in light of the sensitive diplomatic situation and the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said Monday afternoon, "We will study the incident and draw the conclusions." Asked about the fence around the border, he said, "There is no a problem to secure the entire fence and at the moment there are other priorities, so we do not plan to build a new fence. 'Terrorist came from Sinai' Southern District Police Chief Major-General Uri Barlev said Monday afternoon, "We are talking about a 21-year-old terrorist who left Gaza and apparently entered Israel from the border, through Sinai. "The explosive device he used contained 15 kilograms of explosives, hidden in a backpack. There is no doubt that the defense establishment will settle the score," Barlev said during a press conference in Eilat. "All the people who were inside the bakery were killed," he added. Asked if security forces did all it takes to prevent the attack, he said, "Only two weeks ago we held an exercise predicting such an incident. We sent hundreds of police officers to Eilat. This is the first time this happens in Eilat, and hopefully the last. Security forces arrived at the scene quickly and operated properly." Scene of attack (Photo: Yaron Brener) Barlev confirmed the fact that the suicide bomber arrived with a driver who dropped him off near the city's bypass road. He added that a police and Border Guard patrol vehicle was immediately sent to the area after the driver made a call to the police. The IDF and the Sin Bet are trying to understand how the terrorist reached Eilat's Izidor neighborhood. One of the options checked was that he infiltrated Sinai from the Gaza Strip and then entered Israel through one of the breaches in the long border. Another question being checked was where the terrorist obtained the explosives and did he receive assistance from anyone inside Israel. Contrary to the defense establishment's assessments, the spokesman of the Islamic Jihad's military wing said that the terrorist left from Jordan and arrived in Eilat in a particularly complex operation, which took seven months to prepare. Jordan denied the report that the terrorist reached Israel through Jordan. "After checking documents in our possession, we discovered that the person who carried out the attack was never in the kingdom," a government spokesman stated. Ahuva Mamos and Ali Waked contributed to the report

Truce won't prevent us from responding, Peretz says

(VIDEO) Defense minister holds special consultation following Eilat terror attack, in which three residents were killed. However, defense establishment officials estimate IDF will not launch wide-scale operation following bombing