Images of tractor dragging terrorist’s body may have triggered rocket attack

A grisly scene of the body of a terrorist dangling from a bulldozer’s blade may have led to the rocket barrage.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

The rocket attack from the Gaza Strip that began early Sunday evening and has been attributed to the Islamic Jihad terror group may have been a reaction to images of an Israeli bulldozer dragging one of its terrorists on Sunday morning.

A video of the scene in which the body of terrorist Mohammed Al-Naim, 27, is seen dangling from the blade of the bulldozer after he and others attempted to plant an explosive device along the Gaza border fence only to be liquidated by an observant IDF force, caused widespread shock within the Gaza Strip, Yediot Ahronot reports.

“Networks were in an uproar. Hamas absorbed criticism for its impotence, including burning tires in refugee camps,” Yediot reported.

“A number of hours after the incident the spokesman for the military arm of Islamic Jihad tweeted a section from the Koran that left no room for doubt: That evening there’d be a storm,” the paper said.

“The Zionist enemy will bear full responsibility for its consequences and ramifications,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

The IDF was operating according to standard practices, although usually it removes bodies at night.

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett made no apologies for the Army’s actions and even praised the removal of the body in the wake of criticism coming from the Israeli Left.

“So we need and so we will do. Against terrorists we will act with strength,” he said.

What to do with terrorist bodies has been a source of controversy in Israel. Israel has returned bodies in the past even though Hamas has refused to return the bodies of Israelis.

In Nov. 2019, a stir was caused when Israel returned to Gaza  the body of 17-year-old Khalil Shaheen, shot and killed by the IDF as he was sabotaging the Gaza-Israel security fence.

When Bennett took over the defense portfolio in November, he announced that he was abolishing the practice of returning the bodies of terrorists.

Below is a video from the IDF of the terrorists planting the explosive device by the security fence.