A clash that erupted during an Israeli special-forces operation in the Gaza Strip killed an Israeli army officer and a local commander for Hamas’ armed wing, along with six other Palestinian militants and threatened to derail efforts to restore calm after months of unrest.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short a trip to Paris and rushed home after receiving the reports.
Sirens rang out in southern Israel into the early hours of yesterday after the clash, signaling rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Photo: Reuters
Israel said it identified 17 launches toward its territory, three of which were intercepted by missile defenses.
It was not immediately clear where the others landed, but there were no injuries.
Israel said it was conducting an intelligence-gathering operation and “not an assassination or abduction.”
Photo: AFP
The statement from Israeli military spokesman Ronen Manelis signaled that the mission did not go as planned and resulted in the clash, which Palestinian security sources said included Israeli airstrikes.
Hamas, the Muslim movement that runs the blockaded enclave, and the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades spoke of a “cowardly Israeli attack” and an “assassination,” vowing revenge.
Hamas’ armed wing said an Israeli special forces team had infiltrated near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip in a civilian car.
Israeli airstrikes followed when the operation failed, it said in a statement.
Israel’s military had not confirmed those details.
Health officials in Gaza said that seven Palestinians were killed.
The dead included a local commander, the brigades said in a statement.
He was identified as Nour Baraka.
Five others were also al-Qassam members, while the seventh was a member of a separate militant alliance known as the Popular Resistance Committees, Gazan security sources said.
The Israeli Army confirmed that one of its officers was killed and another was injured.
“During an [Israeli] special-forces operational activity in the Gaza Strip, an exchange of fire evolved,” the army said in a statement.
“At this incident, an IDF officer was killed and an additional officer was moderately injured,” it said, referring to the Israeli Defense Forces and identifying the officer only by his rank, lieutenant colonel, and the first letter of his name, M.
Netanyahu, who had been attending World War I commemorations in Paris, arrived in Israel yesterday and was to convene a meeting of security chiefs.
Egyptian and UN officials have been mediating between Israel and Hamas in efforts to reach a long-term truce deal.
On Friday, Palestinian civil servants began receiving payments after months of sporadic salary disbursements in cash-strapped Gaza, with US$15 million delivered into the enclave through Israel in suitcases by Qatar.
A total of US$90 million is to be distributed in six monthly instalments, Gaza authorities said, primarily to cover salaries of officials working for Hamas.
Qatar has also said it would hand out US$100 to each of 50,000 poor families, as well as larger sums to Palestinians wounded in clashes along the Gaza-Israel border.
The Gulf emirate has also started buying additional fuel for Gaza’s sole power station, allowing outages to be reduced to their lowest level in years.
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