Israel Commences Engineering Work to Repair Holes Along West Bank Security Barrier Amid Terror Wave

Israel has started engineering work to repair holes and other breaches along dozens of miles of the West Bank security barrier in the “seam line” area, to stop the illegal entry of Palestinians following the recent wave of terror attacks.

The Defense Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that engineering work was initiated to “strengthen and improve the buffer zone near the Judea and Samaria security barrier.”

“Our mission is to secure the security barrier in order to prevent illegal infiltrations,” IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said during a tour of the fence. “We will continue to act everywhere, with any means necessary and for as long as it takes to counter terrorism.”

“Over the past few days we have significantly reinforced the area with soldiers and engineering means in order to improve the defensive infrastructure of the security barrier,” Kochavi remarked.

The move comes after a visit of the West Bank security barrier by Kochavi, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Herzi Halevi.

“We will continue to work deep into the area to stop the terrorists, their collaborators and arms dealers” Gantz said. “Everywhere, at any time and with all the necessary force.”

The engineering work, led by the Head of the Defense Ministry’s Security Fence and Border Administration, Eran Ophir, includes repairing breaches in the fence and digging trenches to stop illegal vehicle crossings. Kochavi also instructed the IDF Chief Combat Engineering Officer, Ido Mizrahi, to fortify defenses along known infiltration routes, in coordination with Central Command engineering units.

The IDF said that after a situational assessment, it would equip the engineering units with three heavy machinery units and send Combat Engineering Corps reservists from the Central Command to help in the efforts.

Other engineering tools from the Combat Engineering Corps will be deployed to the buffer zone near the security barrier. IDF, security forces and the police have increased counterterrorism operations in recent days following the uptick in violence and terror attacks over the past month, which have claimed 14 lives. Two of the perpetrators illegally entered Israel by taking advantage of gaps in the fence, then conducting deadly attacks.

On Tuesday, Gantz announced a plan to grant tens of thousands of additional work permits to Palestinians. An estimated 100,000 Palestinians currently enter Israel legally to work after being screened by the Israel Security Agency and receiving an Israeli permit.