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Israeli officer killed during Gaza raid in which seven Palestinians died
Eight dead in Israeli operation 'targeting Hamas commander' in Gaza
(about 7 hours later)
An Israeli officer has been killed and another injured during a raid by Israeli special forces in Gaza on Sunday. The military operation killed seven Palestinians including, according to Hamas, one of its commanders.
Israeli forces have killed seven Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in airstrikes and an undercover raid that Hamas said targeted one of its commanders and the Israeli military said left one of its officers dead.
Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas denounced the “cowardly Israeli attack” in which, the organisation said, assailants in a passing civilian car opened fire on a group of its armed men, killing one of its commanders, Nour Baraka. Hamas said its gunmen gave chase as the car sped back towards the border with Israel.
The Israeli incursion and air attacks drew rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled enclave, with sirens sounding in Israeli communities along the border. The military said its defences intercepted two of the launches. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage on the Israeli side of the frontier.
The Israeli military said in a statement: “During an IDF [Israel Defense Forces] special forces operational activity in the Gaza Strip, an exchange of fire evolved.” One officer was killed and a second was wounded, and all Israeli soldiers were back in Israel, it said.
The violence prompted the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to cut short a visit to Paris, where he had been gathering with world leaders for a first world war commemoration.
The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would cut short his trip to Paris, where he had been attending world war one commemorations, and return home. The conflict potentially dashes hopes that a recent agreement would restore calm.
Hamas said the incident began when assailants in a passing car opened fire on a group of its armed men, killing one of its commanders. Hamas gunmen gave chase as the car sped back towards the border with Israel, Hamas said in a statement.
After the violence erupted, sirens were reported in southern Israel indicating possible rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. The army said two launches from Gaza were intercepted by Israeli missile defences.
During the pursuit, Israeli aircraft fired more than 40 missiles in the area, according to witnesses.
Palestinian officials said the incident occurred east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Medics and Hamas officials said at least seven people were killed, four of them militants, including the Hamas commander Nour Baraka. It was unclear if the other fatalities included gunmen.
A ground operation inside the Gaza Strip would be rare and likely to significantly boost tensions.
The Israeli military said in a statement: “During an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Special Forces operational activity in the Gaza Strip, an exchange of fire evolved.”
The clash comes after months of deadly unrest along the Gaza-Israel border had appeared to be calming. Recent weeks have seen Israeli decisions to allow Qatar to provide the Gaza Strip with millions of dollars in aid for salaries as well as fuel to help ease an electricity crisis.
One officer was killed and a second was wounded, it said.
Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008, and recent months of unrest have raised fears of a fourth. Deadly clashes have accompanied major protests along the Gaza-Israel border that began on 30 March 30.
A return by Israel to a policy of targeting individual Hamas commanders – tactics largely abandoned in recent years – could raise tensions along the border significantly.
At least 227 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, the majority shot during protests and clashes, since the demonstrations began, while others died in tank fire or air strikes. One Israeli soldier has been killed along the Gaza border in that time.
Violence has flared frequently on the frontier since Palestinians began weekly protests on 20 March. Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations have been trying to broker a long-term ceasefire.
On Friday, Palestinian civil servants began receiving payments after months of sporadic salary disbursements in cash-strapped Gaza, with $15m delivered into the enclave through Israel in suitcases by Qatar.
A total of $90m is to be distributed in six-monthly instalments, Gaza authorities said, primarily to cover the salaries of officials working for Hamas.
Qatar has also said it would hand out $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.
