IDF says Gaza border finally sealed, bodies of 1,500 terrorists found inside Israel

The Israel Defense Forces said it had finally regained control over its suddenly porous border with the Gaza Strip Tuesday morning, some 72 hours after Hamas terrorists blew through sections of the barrier and launched an invasion that saw over 1,000 Israelis slaughtered or kidnapped.

As Israel continued to grapple with the emerging enormity of Saturday’s massacres and the military was formally notifying hostages’ families that their loved ones were being held in Gaza, air force planes bombarded wide swaths of the Strip. Meanwhile, some 300,000 reservists girded for a possible ground invasion, sweeps to locate terrorists feared still hiding inside Israel continued and tensions on the northern border threatened to snowball into a second front.

The IDF said it had managed to seal the border, mining areas around breaches as a stopgap against further incursions.

The death toll in Israel from the surprise attack and subsequent battles rose above 900, according to reports. Over 500 people remained hospitalized, many with life-threatening injuries; over 2,700 have been injured since Saturday.

“In the last day, not a single terrorist entered via the fence,” said the Israel Defense Forces’ top spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. READ MORE