2 IDF Soldaten im Gaza getötet

Bei den Kämpfen gegen die Hamas-Terroristen im Gaza wurden 2 IDF-Soldaten getötet und sechs weitere erlitten leichte bis mittelschwere Verletzungen. Die israelischen Streitkräfte hatten mit einer militärischen Operation Freitag Nacht in der Nähe der Stadt Sajaiya im Norden des Gaza auf den anhaltenden Terror reagiert.


Staff Sergeant Doron Asulin, 20, aus Beerscheba		Staff Sergeant Dan Eran Gur, 20, aus Jerusalem

Asulin was in the Givati brigade's patrol battalion; Dan Gur was of the brigade's Shaked battalion.

The two were hit during a fire exchange with gunmen, who apparently used an explosive device during fighting. A military source told Ynet that "the soldiers acted as expected, but this kind of fighting is rarely without casualties."
Six other soldiers were injured in the incident – five suffering light wounds and one suffering moderate ones.

The Five were hurt during a clash with Hamas gunmen and suffered mostly shrapnel injuries to their arms and legs. They were airlifted to the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba.

IDF operations in the Gaza Strip over the weekend have left 46 Palestinians dead, most affiliated with Hamas.
Givati and armor forces, aided by IAF fighter jets have been operating in the northern Gaza since Friday night. Palestinian militants fired over 40 rockets at Israel's western Negev, Sderot and Ashkelon since the military operation began; three people were injured as a result, two of them children.

"The activity is taking place in areas which the terror organizations want to guard, including launching pads," a military source explained.

Hamas sources said the IDF soldiers were hit by an improved anti-tank missile recently introduced to Gaza. Several weeks ago, a Hamas official told Ynet that the organization has been able to have missiles similar to those used by the Hizbullah in the Second Lebanon War, smuggled into Gaza.

According to reports, the gunmen were firing mortar shells, antitank and RPG missiles at the soldiers. Over 60 Palestinians were reportedly wounded in the fighting.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who toured the area on Friday, said that "the escalations in Hamas' responsibility and it will be held accountable for it.

"The government will do everything to keep Ashkelon free of rocket fire," he added.

IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi held a security briefing Saturday to discuss the escalating fighting in southern Israel.

Following the briefing, Defense Minister Ehud Barak that IDF operations in Gaza must continue in order to drive terror operatives launching Qassam rockets into Israel, deeper into the central Strip, adding that rocket productions labs must be destroyed.
sources reported Saturday that the Israeli Airforce attacked the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza. It is still unknown what the target of this raid was, or whether there were any injuries. Later Saturday, the Israeli Air Force struck a truck transporting 160 Qassam rockets and several gunmen in Gaza. The IAF reported a confirmed hit. Staff-Sergeant Eran Dan Gur's funeral will take place on Sunday in the military cemetery in Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

According to reports, 56 Palestinians were killed in heavy exchanges of fire which erupted in the area – the largest number of fatalities in a single IDF operation in the area since the Gaza pullout. The Palestinians further reported that 12 of the casualties were civilians, including eight children, three women and two unarmed men. More than 60 Palestinians were injured.
Most of the gunmen killed were Hamas members. Several others were Islamic Jihad operatives and one was a member of the Popular Resistance Committees.

Five IDF soldiers were lightly to moderately injured in the clashes, two sustaining light to moderate wounds, and the other three lightly injured. The troops were evacuated via helicopter to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
Givati and armor forces were deployed near Sajaiya on Friday night, not far from the populated area, in a routine operation aimed at uncovering terror infrastructures in a bid to thwart terror attacks planned in the border fence area.

IDF tank in Gaza (Photo: Amir Cohen)

Although there is no direct connection between the recent escalation in the south and Friday night's activity, IDF officials estimated that terror organizations would attempt to target the soldiers, and that the resistance level to the operation would be high.

"The activity is taking place in areas which the terror organizations want to guard, including launching pads," a military source explained. "We are fighting against a large scope of armed gunmen. The soldiers have encountered various countermeasures, such as explosive devises, anti-tank missiles and sniper fire.

"There have been several attempts (by gunmen) to try and harm the troops in order to accomplish a show of force, but the soldiers are ready for it," added the source. "The IAF is assisting us and the cooperation between the ground forces and the aerial ones is satisfactory."

Conflicting versions over child's death

Earlier Friday night, the Palestinians reported of four people killed in IDF strikes in the Strip, including a one-year-old baby. However, there were conflicting versions over the circumstances of the child's death.

At first, the Palestinians accused the IDF of attacking the baby's house, but later reported that the house was hit by a stray rocket fired by the Palestinians from within Gaza.

On Friday evening, the IDF reported that it had struck a weapon manufacturing site in the central Strip, as well as a rocket launching pad in the northern Strip.

At around midnight, sources in Hamas reported that Eyad al-Ashram, an arms expert, died when a missile fired by the IDF struck open ground after dark in the north of Gaza.

The rocket attacks on Ashkelon and the western Negev continued Saturday morning, as Palestinians fired three Grad missiles at Ashkelon, one of them directly hitting an apartment building.

Three residents, two of them children, were evacuated in light condition to the Barzilai Medical Center in the city. Several people were treated for shock. More than 30 rockets were fired from Gaza since Friday night.

Ongoing fire

Meanwhile, Palestinian sources in Gaza reported that the IDF has struck two militant cells in northern Gaza. Earlier, IDF forces targeted a vehicle in the Strip's north.

The sources reported that two gunmen were killed in the strike, one in a targeted strike and the other by sniper fire.
Saturday night saw two more Hamas operatives killed in an IAF raid on a Hamas police station in southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis.

Palestinian sources later reported that the bodyguard of Hamas leader Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar was killed by IDF fire in the northern Gaza Strip.

IDF forces continued to hammer targets in Gaza all through Saturday, as Palestinian sources reported five people were killed in two separate IAF strikes in Rafah. According to reports, the strikes targeted both a Hamas police station and a local mosque.

A Palestinian security officials called the Rafah strike "the height of the IDF’s moral bankruptcy," adding "the IDF realized it cannot win the battle against Palestinian operatives, so it is now targeting civilians and civilian infrastructures.”

The IDF confirmed its forces struck a Rafah building housing several Hamas operatives, Saturday night; confirming a hit.

Palestinian sources later reported that two more Hamas operatives were killed in Gaza Saturday. One of the men was Haled Attallah, a senior operative of Hamas' Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, whose home was raided by IDF troops earlier Saturday. The other was reportedly killed IDF fire in northern Gaza.

Attallah died of his wounds at a Gaza City hospital. His wife and three of his children were also killed in the IDF raid.
Faced with the weekend's death toll, the Hamas government in Gaza declared a full school strike and three days of mourning. The decision is not expected to be implemented in the West Bank.
Ali Waked and Yael Branovsky
jns, 1.3.2008