IDF tanks shelled Hamas posts in southern Gaza Strip on Sunday after explosives were found on the security fence. The Palestinian Health Ministry said two men, ages 25 and 28, were killed.
The military said the device, attached to a large pair of wirecutters, was placed on the fence on Saturday evening with aim of harming soldiers patrolling the area. It was detected and defused in the early hours of Sunday morning.
"The IDF takes the daily attempts by the Hamas terrorist group to undermine security infrastructure on the border while placing soldiers and civilians in harm's way very seriously," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement.
"The IDF is determined to continue to protect and defend the Israeli public."
Late on Saturday night, Israeli Air Force jets struck several Hamas posts in Gaza. The strike followed an infiltration of the border earlier that morning and what the military called "repeated attempts to compromise security infrastructure as part of border riots."
A video of the infiltration showed four Palestinians cut the security fence, enter Israeli territory and hurl firebombs at a nearby IDF post, before fleeing back into Gaza.
IDF troops were scrambled to the area and opened fire at the terrorists. Military officials said the entire incident transpired over less than two minutes.
Meanwhile, the number of Palestinians rioting on the Israel-Gaza Strip border on Hamas' behest continues to steadily drop.
Defense officials said that while Hamas continued to urge Gaza's residents to arrive at the border en masse, this week only about 5,000 people protested near the security fence.
Rioters hurled fragmentation, fire and pipe bombs at the troops, torched tires and attempted to sabotage security infrastructure.
Security forces used crowd control measures, rubber bullets and, in some cases, live fire to ward off the rioters. The Palestinian said 150 protesters were injured, mostly from tear gas inhalation.
Hamas attributed the decline in the number of protesters to the holy month of Ramadan, but Palestinian Authority officials said that the dwindling protests were the result of the fact that despite the high number of casualties noted since the border riots campaign was launched on March 30, Hamas has failed to present any tangible achievement.
"Hamas has completely failed to improve the lives of Gaza's residents and they no longer believe in its leaders," a senior PA official told Israel Hayom.
"Hamas is in a very difficult situation," he added. "The organization is politically isolated and, being desperate, it bet on Iran for help – something that doesn't sit well with other Arab countries. Hamas also failed in its tunnel enterprise, as Israel seems to have found a solution for it, and its rockets are useless against Iron Dome," he said, referring to Israel's celebrated rocket defense system.
Also over the weekend, Palestinian protesters continued sending incendiary kites and balloons over the Gaza border. Israel Fire and Rescue Services said 18 fires were sparked in border-adjacent communities as a result.
