Islamic Jihad threatens Israeli soldiers and generals in video
A video of an Israeli sniper shooting a seemingly unarmed Palestinian at the Gaza border was leaked last week
In a video published by Islamic Jihad on Thursday, the Islamic militant group threatens Israel’s Defence Forces ahead of Friday’s "March of Return in Gaza."
The video shows Islamic Jihad fighters lining up their sniper rifles on a staircase and then go on to target IDF soldiers and generals.
“You’re killing our people in cold blood and think that you’re protected, but our snipers’ sights are on your top commanders,” a statement read at the end of the video.
So far, some 32 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the protests began in Gaza last month.
Last week a video of an Israeli sniper shooting a seemingly unarmed Palestinian at the Gaza border was leaked, and caused great turmoil due to the reactions of the sniper and members of his unit.
After shooting the Palestinian, the sniper yelled out “son of a bitch” while cheering with the soldiers standing next to him.
Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said during a press conference that the sniper "deserves a medal" for doing his job, while the soldier who filmed the incident deserves a citation.
“The sniper deserves a medal, the photographer a court martial,” Liberman said.
“The truth must be clear. The IDF is the most moral army in the world, but when you’re at the front and facing tense situations, sometimes you let out those tensions,” he said of the incident.
Islamic Jihad’s threat to target IDF soldiers and generals could cause the already tense situation along the border to escalate further.
In October last year, at least seven Palestinians were killed -- including a senior Islamic Jihad commander and his deputy -- after Israel blew up a tunnel stretching from the Khan Yunis area in central Gaza into Israeli territory.
Islamic Jihad had said then that the group was "weighing their options" and "will not lose their right to react" against the "Zionist terrorist government."
Israeli security forces revealed on April 4 that ten Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip were arrested last month over an Islamic Jihad plot to launch a missile attack against an Israeli navy vessel and abduct the sailors on board.
The suspects allegedly planned to use one boat to distract an Israeli Navy ship by intentionally breaching Israel's six nautical mile blockade of the Palestinian enclave, while a second vessel would be used to launch an anti-tank missile at it.
A third vessel would then approach the distressed Navy ship in order to abduct sailors on board to be used in a prisoner exchange with Israel.
The suspects, all residents of Rafah in southern Gaza, were arrested by Israeli navy forces on March 12 during routine security patrols, after a boat they were using to carry out intelligence gathering operations strayed beyond the permitted fishing zone off Gaza's coast.
The “March of Return” is set to climax on May 15, when Israel will mark 70 years of independence -- a day Palestinians mark as the “nakba” (“catastrophe” in Arabic) -- and the United States will cut the ribbon on its controversial new embassy in Jerusalem.