Boim said the military has planned a major offensive that would disrupt the withdrawal should Palestinian missile and mortar attacks continue.]

The system includes a wall with a height of seven meters as well as advanced sensors, watchtowers mounted with remote-control machine guns and barbed wire. The security network was meant to be operated by a command and control center inside Israel. The wall would be constructed in three areas in which the border was adjacent to Israeli communities.

In a briefing on July 28, the Israel Army detailed the assets and capabilities of the security system. Officials said the system would contain hundreds of video and night-vision cameras to track infiltrators as soon as they approach the border area.

Officials said the first barrier would be comprised of a fence with six concertina barbed wires, but without electronic sensors. The second barrier — termed Hoovers A — would be located 20 meters east and consist of a road and a fence with electronic sensors linked to a C2 center. Both elements already exist in the current army security system.

The new element added would be a buffer zone of between 70 to 150 meters -- termed Hoovers B -- with motion sensors implanted in the ground. This would be followed by a new electronic fence, combined with watchtowers every two kilometers. The entire security fence and system would span about 60 kilometers.

Currently, the army maintains a buffer zone of nearly a kilometer along the eastern Gaza Strip. Officers said the General Staff sought, albeit unsuccessfully, to maintain the zone following the withdrawal.

Officials said the watchtowers would be armed with remote-control machine guns directed by the C2 center to fire at infiltrators. The area would come under air surveillance from unmanned aerial vehicles. Below, U.S.-origin Humvees, equipped with radar and linked to the C2 center, would patrol areas of the fence.

The army towers would be completed in mid-2006, officials said. This would be followed by the introduction of UAV border patrols and the installation of aerostats with observation payloads.

Officials said the system was meant to counter any insurgency threat, including ambush, infiltration, abduction or suicide bombing. They said they expect Palestinian insurgency groups to test the security system within days of the military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, an operation meant for completion in October 2005.

The system envisions the likelihood that insurgents could cut through the first barrier within three minutes. By that time, soldiers or radar would spot the infiltrator and trace his route.

Officials said the system would be enhanced with unmanned systems in an attempt to prevent soldiers from becoming targets of Palestinian snipers.

They said the army would seek to replace or augment armored patrols with those by unmanned ground vehicles equipped with machine guns.

Another scenario was that insurgents would try to dig underneath the border fence. The army plans to plant acoustic sensors throughout the border area to detect digging.

Officials said the system was not designed to prevent infiltration into Israel from the sea. They said the Israeli military intends to eventually build a jetty of up to 600 meters from the land border into the Mediterranean Sea. The barrier would force Palestinian insurgency vessels to move into an area already patrolled by the Israel Navy.

The security system would also not defend against Palestinian missiles and mortars into Israel. The Defense Ministry has overseen a plan to install missile alert systems in several cities near the Gaza Strip, including Ashkelon. The roofs of homes in about 40 villages near the Gaza border would also be reinforced.

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