"The past year was full of security challenges on all the fronts in which we operate. [Throughout 2019] we foiled more than 560 significant terrorist attacks, among them 10 suicide attacks, four abduction attempts and over 300 shooting attacks," Shin Bet security agency chief Nadav Argaman said Monday evening.
"These attacks were prevented thanks to every woman and man who works at the agency," he said alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an annual award ceremony for the organization.
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Argaman and Netanyahu presented awards to six Shin Bet projects or operations from 2019 that were deemed "extraordinary."
The identities of the recipients were not revealed.
"The lives of hundreds of Israelis, maybe more, were saved due to your actions," Netanyahu told the attendees.
The prime minister praised the Shin Bet, saying its efforts gave Israelis a "feeling of security, which does not go without saying in our country."
Meanwhile, despite ongoing talks between Israel and Hamas over a ceasefire arrangement in Gaza, through Egyptian mediation, incendiary and explosives-laded balloons have been launched at Israel with increasing frequency in recent days.
A senior Hamas official told Israel Hayom that due to tensions between Egypt and the Gaza-based terrorist organization, the Egyptian had halted their mediation efforts.
The Hamas official also accused Israel of failing to fulfill its commitments within the framework of existing ceasefire understandings by refusing to ease certain restrictions on Gaza. According to the official, the Egyptians recently canceled a planned visit by an Egyptian security delegation to Gaza, and Israel has asked Qatar to delay the transfer of aid funds to Gaza until Hamas ceases the current incendiary balloon campaign.
In the meantime, several explosives-laden balloons were spotted and neutralized in the southern city of Sderot on Monday, again testing the patience of Israelis living in communities near the Gaza Strip.
"The Israeli government is allowing this dangerous terror to exist without a response," one southern resident told Israel Hayom on Monday.
