The Israel Defense Forces was able to thwart a major Hamas terrorist attack in the southern town of Sderot last summer, Southern Brigade Commander Col. Dado Bar-Kalifa revealed Monday. Speaking of Operation Protective Edge with bereaved families at a Hanukkah candlelighting ceremony, Bar-Kalifa said the military had indication that a clash between IDF soldiers and Hamas terrorists emerging out of a tunnel dug near Kibbutz Nir Am had effectively prevented a terrorist attack in Sderot. Four soldiers, including Lt. Col. Dolev Kedar, 38, commander of the Gefen Battalion of the IDF's Bahad 1 officers' training base, were killed in the July 22, 2014 clash. "While I cannot go into details, I can tell you that the Nir Am tunnel attack was mistakenly named, before we learned of the enemy's plans to reach Sderot," Bar-Kalifa said. The terrorists killed in the clash "planned to lead 60 terrorists to the heart of an Israeli community, where they planned to embark on a killing spree and abduct soldiers and civilians," he said.
