Ofir Gendelman, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declared on Twitter that the Israeli Army had reported that no Israelis had been killed in the attack which left 16 Egyptian soldiers dead and seven wounded near the Gaza-Rafah border crossing on Sunday evening. Gendelman also said that Israeli troops had been "combing" the nearby Kerem Abu Salam border area looking for "terrorists" whom he said had entered the self-proclaimed Jewish state from Egypt. The Netanyahu spokesperson added that, apart from a military vehicle that had exploded and killed several Egyptian soldiers, a second vehicle, which he claimed had been "hijacked," had been destroyed by the Israeli air force. "One of the military vehicles exploded at the Kerem Shalom [Kerem Abu Salam] crossing. The second vehicle was targeted by the IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] from the air," he tweeted in English. He added in Arabic: "Apparently the 'terrorists' who penetrated the borders with two vehicles had planned for a very big terrorist operation on our territory. This attempt has been aborted." Following the attacks, Israeli occupation forces declared their intention to close the Karam Abu Salem border crossing between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip on Monday. Israeli daily Maariv said the attacks followed a statement issued by Israel's Counter-Terrorism Bureau on Thursday warning Israeli citizens of an imminent attack.
