An Israeli special forces officer was killed and another was moderately wounded during a night-time operation in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the army said. The incident sparked intense clashes between the Israeli military and the Hamas terror group.
At least seven Palestinians were killed in the firefight and airstrikes that followed the Israeli raid, including a senior Hamas commander, according to Palestinian officials. Israeli officials later indicated that the incident was an intelligence gathering operation that went wrong.
The military censor prevented news of the IDF officer’s death and the second officer’s injuries from being published until their families could be notified. The names of the soldiers were not immediately released.
The fighting set off a massive round of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, and at least a dozen rockets or mortar shells were fired at southern Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced late Sunday he would cut short an official state visit to Paris and return to Israel immediately.
The flareup punctured a brief calm along the restive border, coming two days after Israel allowed Qatar to send $15 million in cash to Hamas in Gaza — one of the first moves in a reported ceasefire agreement between Israel and the terrorist group.
According to Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades commander, Nour Baraka, was killed along with six other Hamas members by Israeli special forces who drove a “civilian vehicle” three kilometers into Gaza from the border.
Baraka was reportedly closely involved in Hamas’s tunnel program and also served as the commander of a Khan Younis regional battalion.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Tal Russo, a former commander of the IDF Southern Command, indicated that the operation was likely an intelligence-gathering mission gone wrong, rather than an assassination.
“Activities that most civilians aren’t aware of happen all the time, every night and in every region. This action — an operation that was apparently exposed — wasn’t an assassination attempt. We have other ways of assassinating people and we know how to do it much more elegantly,” Russo told Channel 10 news.
The retired general, who until recently was responsible for the IDF’s missions abroad, also told Army Radio that Baraka was likely killed in a rescue effort to extract the special forces soldiers.
Palestinian media outlets reported the Israeli troops had initially tried to capture — not kill — Baraka during the raid, but that the Hamas commander was shot dead after the operation was exposed. This could not be immediately confirmed by the IDF.
The Qassam Brigades said it engaged the Israeli commandos, setting off an intense firefight with Israeli troops, including reported intense drone strikes throughout the southern Gaza Strip.
The special forces squad was forced to retreat to the Israeli side of the fence under the cover of the aerial bombardment, Hamas’s military wing said in a statement.
A Hamas spokesperson praised the “brave resistance that repulsed the Israeli aggression.”
The Israeli military confirmed that “an exchange of fire broke out during security activities by the IDF in the Gaza Strip region,” but would not elaborate further.
Many details of the Israeli operation in Gaza could not be published by order of the military censor.
Quick recap so far: IDF operated in the Gaza Strip, exchange of gunfire ensued. All IDF soldiers back in Israel. Several alarms have sounded in Southern Israel. More to follow.— Jonathan Conricus (@LTCJonathan) November 11, 2018
Following the clashes, at least 10 projectiles were fired at southern Israel as of 23:58 p.m. Sunday, two of which were shot down by the Iron Dome air defense system, the army said. After midnight warning sirens continued to wail and several more projectiles were fired into Israel, with no immediate reports of casualties.
Light damage was caused to a number of greenhouses in the Eshkol region, locals said.
Residents of southern Israel were instructed to remain close to their bomb shelters in the event of reprisals Sunday night.
There were no reports of rockets or mortar shells landing inside Israeli communities near the Gaza border. The projectiles not intercepted by the Iron Dome apparently landed in open fields.
Netanyahu was informed of the flareup while in Paris on an official state visit.
“In light of the security-related incidents in the South, the prime minister has decided to shorten his visit to Paris and to return to Israel tonight,” his office said in a statement.
Culture Minister Miri Regev was appointed acting prime minister in Netanyahu’s absence; however, she cannot call a meeting of the powerful security cabinet as she is not a member of it.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has the authority to hold a special session of the security cabinet.
On Sunday evening, he met with top defense officials in the army’s Tel Aviv headquarters, including IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot and the head of the Shin Bet security service Nadav Argaman.
According to the Gaza Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry, in addition to Baraka, six other Hamas members, all in their 20s, were killed in clashes with the IDF.
Seven other Palestinians were reportedly injured in the clashes.
Israelis in the Eshkol region, across from Khan Younis, reported hearing multiple explosions as fighting broke out at around 9:30 p.m.
Roads immediately surrounding the Gaza Strip were closed in light of military activities, the police said.
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