Yom Reva’ee
Wednesday
6 Av 5782
August 3 2022
TODAY’S BLOG
Southern Israel Remains On High Alert
“There is a real threat to the lives of civilians and soldiers.”
Senior IDF security official
“They succeeded in stilling fear in all the residents of the Gaza border. We are cut off from the state of Israel. They closed the roads from Ashkelon to Sderot. People lock themselves in their houses as in a war.
Shlomi Elkaim, Sderot businessman
“Once again the terrorist organizations set the agenda in Israel. We have no complaints about the IDF doing its job, but on the other hand, it is not possible for the terrorists to disable us whenever they want.”
Daniel Mater, resident of the Eshkol Region along the border
As of this hour (1 pm Israel time), the expected threat from Islamic Jihad has not materialized. There have been no infiltrations, no sniper attacks, and no missiles. Nevertheless, the IDF is currently moving to expand its presence along the border.
Three regular companies and 100 reservists have been positioned to “thicken” the IDF presence in order to guard against possible infiltrations.
At the same time, as the above quotes imply, more roads into and out of the kibbutzes, moshavs, and towns in the area have been blockaded with checkpoints set up everywhere.
To supplement the above actions, Israel seems desperate to avoid “escalation” having sent Hamas this message this morning: “The closing of the crossings is not a punitive measure, but due to a security need and as part of the closing of the roads and other areas in the Gaza Strip. We are not interested in escalation – but we will respond strongly to any attempt to harm Israel.”
And while the Egyptians and Hamas (once again the supposed “good guys”) are busily trying to get Islamic Jihad to hold its fire, Islamic Jihad officials have been meeting with Iranian officials in order to be told what to do.
We probably will not know what that directive is until tonight.
In the meantime, we here at OneIsrael will continue to post updates as necessary.
Addendum: the daily Corona update . . .
3,539 Israelis tested positive yesterday (out of 18,875 tested) bringing to 38,629 the number of active patients in the country.
The positive test rate was 18.75%; the coefficient of infection was 0.78%.
282 Israelis are seriously ill; 86 are critically ill—85 of these are on ventilators.
11,399 have died–8 since yesterday.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.