Amid mounting tensions along the Israel-Gaza border in recent weeks, the IDF chief of staff announced on Thursday that the Israeli military would be reinforcing troops in the border area in anticipation of further escalation.
In a statement Thursday following a security assessment attended by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said that it was decided to "widely deploy forces in the southern sector in the coming days and forge ahead with our steadfast policy of preventing terrorist activity and infiltration into Israeli territory along the security fence in the [Gaza] Strip."
"We are prepared to confront a variety of scenarios," the statement added, "and we view Hamas as solely responsible for everything that happens in the Gaza Strip and everything that comes out of it."
The IDF announcement came hours after Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' military leader, gave a rare interview to Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronoth, in which he insisted that Hamas does not want to go to war with Israel.
"A new war with Israel is in neither party's interest. Certainly not ours. Who would want to pit four slingshots against a nuclear power? War will achieve nothing," Sinwar said.
On Wednesday, the Gaza Health Ministry said that Israeli troops had killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy and wounded 24 others during a protest near the border crossing into Israel.
Thousands of Palestinians rioted near the Erez crossing, the only pedestrian crossing between Israel and Gaza.
The IDF said rioters torched tires and hurled rocks and explosives at the troops, who responded with crowd control measures and sporadic live fire, in accordance with the IDF rules of engagement.
Gaza's Health Ministry said the boy died of a head injury after being shot by Israeli troops manning the crossing.
An AP cameraman who witnessed the incident said the boy was hit by a tear gas canister.
At least 175 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas, the terrorist group that rules Gaza, launched its border riot campaign on March 30 to demand the easing of an Israeli-Egyptian economic blockade on the Strip.
Israel accuses the Islamist group Hamas of deliberately provoking violence during the protests, an allegation Hamas denies.
