Dozens of rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel on Wednesday after Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in the most serious incidents since a truce went into effect in June.
The Islamist Hamas movement that rules the Palestinian territory said its armed wing fired at Israel in retaliation for Tuesday night’s military attacks.
More than 50 rockets and mortar rounds were fired from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the Israeli army said.
The two sides accused each other of violating the truce that went into effect on June 19 following months of deadly violence in and around the besieged coastal enclave. Hamas said six members of its Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades were killed by the Israeli forces.
Israel said its troops went into Gaza on Tuesday night, acting on intelligence pinpointing a tunnel 250 metres (yards) from the border, which it claimed was to be used for the abduction of Israeli soldiers.
“A unit of paratroopers, backed by sappers and the airforce intervened,” a military spokesman said, adding that “armed terrorists opened fire at the troops from a structure above the tunnel. “The forces returned fire and identified positively hitting a number of them,” he said.
A Hamas freedom fighter was killed and three other activists were wounded in the shootout according to Palestinian medics, while the Israeli army said six Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded.
Five Palestinians were later killed in Israeli air raids near the towns of Deir al-Balah and Al-Bureij, which the army said targeted armed groups firing mortars.
“There is no intention to disrupt the ceasefire, rather the purpose of the operation was to remove an immediate and dangerous threat posed by the Hamas terror organisation,” the army said.
The armed wing of Hamas called the Israeli attack “a serious violation of the truce agreements.” “We warn the Zionist enemy that our response will be ruthless if it persists with its aggression,” it said.
Meanwhile, the Islamist Hamas movement on Wednesday urged Barack Obama to learn from the “mistakes” of previous US administrations in dealing with the Muslim and Arab worlds.
“He must learn from the mistakes of the previous administrations, including that of Bush which has destroyed Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine,” said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum. “He must improve US ties with the rest of the world rather than wave the big American stick,” Barhum told AFP.
“We want him to support the Palestinian cause or at least not to be biased towards the Israeli occupation,” he said. “We have no problem establishing normal relations with the United States to explain our just cause,” he said. The United States, like the European Union and Israel, considers Hamas a terrorist organisation.
Sami Abu Zuhri, another Hamas spokesman, said Obama’s agenda on the Palestinian question was no different than that of his electoral rival, Republican John McCain. “We ask Obama to reconsider US foreign policy concerning the Palestinian case. We will judge him by what he does and what he says,” the spokesman said.
During a visit to Israel in July, Obama expressed support for Israel’s refusal to negotiate directly with Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in June 2007, ousting forces loyal to secular Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
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