JERUSALEM (JTA) — A civilian employee of the Israel Defense Ministry was killed by a Palestinian sniper from Gaza while making repairs to the security fence.

The man, 50, was killed Tuesday afternoon by a single gunshot to his chest. He was airlifted to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where he died of his injury.

“This is a very severe incident and we will not let it go unanswered. Our policy until now has been to act to thwart such incidents beforehand and to respond in force and this is how we will act regarding this incident as well,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement in response to the incident.

The shooting occurred near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The fence had been damaged by recent winter storms.

The shooting occurred after a series of terror incidents in Israel. On Sunday, a bomb exploded on a bus in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv;  Border Police guards thwarted a stabbing attack in Jerusalem and a rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, landing near a school bus stop. On Monday, an Israeli policeman was stabbed in the back in the West Bank.