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Israeli Forces Operate Inside Gaza

(Yediot Ahronot) Brig. Gen. Israel Ziv said the operation targeted Aiman Shasniyeh, a leader of the Popular Resistance Committee, who was involved in a bomb attack on a Merkava tank that killed three soldiers in March. Troops failed to find Shasniyeh, but used explosive charges to destroy his house. Soldiers arrested one of his brothers, along with another man wanted by Israeli intelligence, Ziv said. Troops approaching Shasniyeh's house came under withering gunfire from nearby homes and on the street in what turned into a close-quarters gun battle in the crowded Bureij neighborhood, said army spokeswoman Capt. Sharon Feingold. The Palestinians were spurred on by calls through mosque loudspeakers urging people to come out and fight the troops, and gun battles raged for three hours. Palestinians reported 10 people killed in the fighting and 20 wounded. An IDF soldier was also injured. (Jerusalem Post/AP) Givati Brigade commander Col. Imad Faras said that 3 armed Palestinians were killed in an initial exchange of fire. After the IDF forces prepared the charges to destroy the house of the terrorist, they began to withdraw under heavy fire. A Cobra helicopter gunship identified a group of armed men hiding behind the corner of a house and shooting toward IDF forces. Since they endangered some of the forces, Col Faras requested that the helicopter fire a missile at the group, which killed 4 Hamas members.
2002-12-06 00:00:00
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