Gaza/Tel Aviv - Israeli soldiers clashed with Palestinian
militants in the south-eastern Gaza Strip near the border with Israel
Friday, injuring two members of the militant Islamist Hamas movement,
hospital officials confirmed.
A second militant faction, the Popular Resistance Committees,
issued a statement denying that one of its fighters had been killed
in the clash. It said all of its fighters returned from the action
unharmed.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said Israeli soldiers were on a
routine patrol along the border fence, north-east of the southern
Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, when they identified a number of
Palestinian militants who tried to place explosives near the fence.
She said the militants opened fire at the Israeli patrol, which
then returned fire.
Militants also fired at least three mortar shells at
the Israeli force, the spokeswoman said. Palestinian sources said the
Israeli army responded with artillery fire.
The latest clash comes after the sides made attempts over the past
week to restore a fragile informal truce between Hamas, which rules
Gaza, and Israel. The truce has been increasingly shaky since
a November 4 clash near the Gaza border with Israel that left at
least five Hamas militants dead and sparked a new wave of rocket and
mortar attacks at southern Israel.
Since Thursday last week, the rocket attacks had dropped again to
an average of one a day, but on Thursday three rockets were
apparently fired from the Gaza Strip.
Israel had responded to the new wave of violence by slapping a
near-total closure on Gaza, preventing all but the most basic
humanitarian aid from entering the enclave. Journalists have not
been allowed into the strip for the past three weeks, with
international media protesting the Israeli move as 'unprecedented'
and a 'serious violation of press freedom.'
The closure has led to on and off power blackouts as well as a
shortage in Gaza of many products, including meat and dairy.
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