Israel yesterday began wide scale military drills in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip and the Western Negev in the south of the country, Quds Press reported.

Israeli news website 0404 reported, according to Quds Press, that the drills will last four days and aim to ensure the army is prepared for confrontation in the area.

Local sources in Gaza said that the drills came at a time of increasing tension along the borders with Gaza amidst Israeli fears that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement will retaliate after Israel bombed a tunnel and killed 12 Palestinians on 30 October.

Coordinator of Israeli Government Activities in the Occupied Territories Yoav Mordechai announced yesterday that Israel is expecting Islamic Jihad to retaliate.

In a recorded video, he warned of a “strong response to any act carried out by the Islamic Jihad” which he claimed would be “at the expense of the Gaza residents, [Palestinian] reconciliation and the whole region.”

On Friday, the Israeli occupation announced that it reinforced its military existence in the peripheries of the Gaza Strip and it had deployed elite forces there.

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Source: PNN