Worthy Christian News > Israel-Palestinian Conflict > IDF says Hamas terrorists may be hiding in Israel’s Negev desert

IDF says Hamas terrorists may be hiding in Israel’s Negev desert

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned Wednesday that a number of Palestinian terrorists may still be hiding in the Negev region of southern Israel after infiltrating during the brutal surprise attack on Israeli citizens by up to 2,000 members of the Hamas terror group on October 7, i24News reports.

The attack on southern Israeli communities left 1,300 civilians dead, women raped, children tortured, homes and property burned down, and around 200 men, women, children and babies kidnapped to Gaza.

The bodies of around 1,500 Hamas terrorists were found inside Israel after security forces engaged them during the October 7 onslaught, but the IDF believes there remain terror cells in the Negev desert where the city of Beersheba has been under repeated rocket fire from Gaza.

“While many were killed or managed to return to Gaza, and the army regained full control of the Gaza border area within a week following the attack, the latest assessment reveals the army’s concern that some terrorists were instructed to remain in hiding in order to commit future terrorist attacks,” i24News explained in its report. “According to the IDF briefing, the remaining terrorists are believed to be hiding in the Negev desert.”

Moreover, the IDF said, there is an increased risk of attacks on the Egyptian border, i24News reports. The Israeli military has already engaged Hezbollah terrorists seeking to launch attacks from Lebanon, in addition to the full-scale airstrike campaign on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.