Tel Aviv/Gaza - A fragile Israeli-Palestinian truce in the
Gaza Strip took a battering overnight Tuesday and on Wednesday as
Israeli troops raided the salient and militants launched a barrage
of rockets at the south of the Jewish state in response.
It was the most serious violence in the Gaza Strip since June 19,
when the truce went into effect, and left six Palestinians - five
militants and a civilian woman - dead, medical officials said, and
several Israeli soldiers wounded.
An Israeli military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv told Deutsche Presse-
Agentur dpa that troops had entered the enclave on Tuesday night to
destroy a 250-metre-long tunnel being dug under the border, which,
she said, was being prepared to aid in the kidnapping of Israeli
soldiers.
The operation was a 'pinpoint' one, she said, to destroy an
'immediate threat.'
Militants from the Islamic Hamas organization traded fire with the
soldiers and the movement's armed wing said it had also fired at
least 10 mortar shells at the Israeli force.
At one stage, an Israeli aircraft also targeted the Hamas
militants. The Israeli force left the Strip early Wednesday morning.
Hamas' armed wing said it would 'confront any aggression against
our people and our militants,' and accused Israel of violating the
truce.
The IDF, for its part, said in a statement Wednesday morning that
the construction of the tunnel close to the border and aimed at
facilitating the abduction of Israeli soldiers, was 'a blatant
violation of the ceasefire.'
The IDF had had no intention of disrupting the truce, the
statement added.
Gazan militants responded to the Israeli operation by launching at
least 35 missiles toward southern Israel overnight and on Wednesday
morning.
In response, Israel closed the Gaza crossing points, stopping the
flow of goods into the impoverished salient. Under the June 19 truce,
the Gaza militias undertook to halt actions against Israel, including
rocket fire, and Israel agreed to widen the amount and types of goods
allowed into Gaza.
Israel has adopted this sanction before, as militants in the Strip
violated the truce by launching rockets.
Israel imposed its blockade on the Strip last year, after Hamas
routed forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and took
over security bases in the enclave.
The Israeli siege was tightened even further around the turn of
the year, following an intensification in the rocket attacks on
southern Israel from the salient.
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