Only several hours following the deadly terror attack in Bnei Brak, footage emerged Wednesday showing Palestinians crossing into Israel illegally through gaps in the partition fence from the northern West Bank.
The camera footage shows breaches in the fence located not far from Ya'bad, the home town of Diaa Hamarsheh, the gunman who shot dead five people in the predominantly ultra-Orthodox city on Tuesday evening.
Palestinians illegally breaking through the partition fence in the Northern West Bank
After breaking in through the fence, the incoming Palestinians emerge near a road, where they are awaited by cars that pick them up.
"Every morning, from early hours up until 7am, dozens of transits and cars come to pick up people that cross the partition fence illegally," said Elazar Roth, a resident of nearby settlement Tal Menashe.
"They come close to the border. What we see is a lack of governance, active abandonment. It's not that the security forces don't know and don't see - they simply decided to leave it this way. We need to deal with this phenomena," he said.
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Cars arriving to pick up Palestinian employees near the border fence
(Photo: Elisha Ben Kimon)
The IDF claims that it has recently tried to deal with the problem of illegal entry of Palestinians by placing mounds of gravel near the road margins.
However, because there are multiple meeting points along the road, this didn't stop the Palestinians from carrying out their intrusion missions.
"There's tension at the border crossing, and those who pass through [legally] get to Israel only around 8-9am, and that's late for them because most of them start work at 5-6am," one of the drivers who came to pick up Palestinian employees said, referring to Palestinians who work at construction sites across Israel, which begin work really early.
"Therefor, the workers enter through the gaps in the fences," he added.
Hamarsheh also worked in Israel illegally, and allegedly crossed the border through one of the breaches in the fence in the northern West Bank.
"Our hearts are with the people that pay the price with their lives. But this is exactly the point - we need to stand by our regulations. If we have a fence and we have a partition wall, we can't leave it [open] like this," said Roth.
Following the assessments of the current security situation, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi announced the deployment of four additional battalions in the West Bank area. These forces will protect the border and close the breaches in the fence.
More so, the police has initiated an operation to track down all the illegal residents in Israel and ensure they enter legally if need be.
Head of the Shomron Regional Council Yossi Dagan met with Deputy Defense Minister Alon Schuster and showed him personally all the breaches in the fence.
"This terror attack could have been avoided," said Dagan. "For years Israel has neglected the partition wall and ignored the entrance of illegal residents into the country with the humanitarian excuse, instead of conducting an organized entry for legal workers. Israel is turning a blind eye to a obvious and real threat."
4 View gallery
Cars arriving to pick up Palestinian employees near the border fence
(Photo: Elisha Ben Kimon)
Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel said: "I demand to renew the partition wall. In the current situation there is free passage for Palestinians throughout the fence in different points that security forces are aware of.
"This creates extensive criminal activity that for years has been causing suffering to the local residents. It's not a fast solution but we must make a decision, and invest a lot of money in this."