The Security fence near Jerusalem. Photo: Jacob Rask

The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police increased their activity throughout the Lachish region on Thursday, following an Israel Hayom report on numerous breaches in Israel’s security fence in that area and a subsequent increase in Palestinian infiltrations and criminal activity there.

The holes in the fence allowed Palestinians from nearby villages to sneak into Israeli territory at night, and steal agricultural equipment and cattle from the nearby Israeli communities.

In one incident, a Thai worker was abducted and beaten when a group of Palestinians commandeered the tractor he was driving near the fence. There have been 16 tractor thefts in the past month, according to police.

Thieves would rip out the cables that originally served as part of the fence’s detection system, and sell them for a profit in the West Bank. Palestinians had also used the easy access to Israeli territory to scavenge ammunition from the nearby firing zones in IDF training bases and sell them to arms dealers.