Israel to build wall around Jewish settlements along Gaza border

By Gulsen Topcu

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that the country would build a large wall stretching 4.6 kilometers (around 2.8 miles) around Jewish settlements along the Gaza border.

In a statement, the ministry said that work on the project, aiming to protect the settlements from anti-tank missiles launched from Gaza, had already started.

In recent years, Jewish settlements on the border with the Gaza Strip have been subject to anti-tank missile strikes.

In November 2018, an Israeli military bus that infiltrated Gaza was hit by an anti-tank missile fired by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas group, injuring a soldier.

Separately, an Israeli national was killed in May 2019 due to an anti-tank missile.