An Israel Defense Forces reserves soldier was moderately wounded early Thursday during an IDF arrest operation in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Gunmen opened fire on IDF forces that had encircled the house a Palestinian east of the Kissufim crossing. Troops returned fire, but were unable to hit the gunmen. The wounded soldier was evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva.

Meanwhile, IDF troops arrested 20 wanted Palestinian militants in overnight arrest raids in the West Bank.

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The Shin Bet foiled an attempt early this week by Palestinian militants to smuggle six kilograms of military-grade explosives from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. Details of the incident, which occurred on Sunday, were
released for publication Wednesday.

Shin Bet forces, working off intelligence communications, intercepted a cargo containing TNT-based explosives at the Karni crossing. The explosives were headed for the West Bank town of Tul Karm.

Three Israeli Arab taxi drivers, who were allegedly expected to take the shipment to the West Bank, were detained for questioning and released, after the Shin Bet accepted their version of the events, according to which they were unaware of the nature of the goods in the shipment.

A Palestinian resident of Tul Karm who is suspected of arranging to receive the explosives from the drivers was also arrested.

Activists from Gaza's Popular Resistance Committees are believed to be behind the smuggling attempt. They were aided at the Karni crossing,
according to suspicions, by a Palestinian laborer from Gaza
City's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.

The PRC have been trying to operate terror cells in the West Bank by "remote control" recently. In June, they were behind the abduction and murder of Eliyahu Asheri of the Itamar settlement near Nablus.

Military-grade explosives are almost impossible to obtain in the West Bank, where terrorists use improvised explosives that are much less powerful than TNT and similar materials.

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday completed a six-day operation pinpointing tunnels for arms smuggling along the Philadelphi Route in the southern Gaza Strip. IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Tuesday that forces had located entrances to 15 tunnels along the border and estimated the presence of at least one hundred more.