IDF: Year in Review

The Fellowship  |  January 8, 2018

While Israel’s military has begun its work of protecting the Holy Land from harm in 2018, their review of 2017 has just been released. Israel Hayom’s Lilach Shoval reports that among other statistics from the past year, 20 Israelis were killed in attacks, 35 rockets were launched into Israel from Gaza, and 59 terror targets in Gaza were struck by the IDF:

Some 35 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel during 2017, the largest number of projectiles fired at the country since the conclusion of Operation Protective Edge, waged in the Gaza Strip in 2014, the military said.

In a report summarizing operational incidents in 2017, the IDF said the majority of the attacks occurred following U.S. President Donald Trump’s Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The summary, issued this weekend, stated that 10 of the mortar shells aimed at Israel’s south during the latter part of 2017 were fired by Islamic Jihad following the Oct. 30 demolition of a terror tunnel dug under the Israel-Gaza border.

According to the data, the IDF hit 59 terror targets in the coastal enclave during 2017, including training facilities, terrorist infrastructure, lookout posts and weapon-manufacturing mills.

The military described several of the targets it hit in Gaza as “key terrorist infrastructure…”