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Hamas says attacks Israeli army post near Gaza

Posted on: Saturday, 24 June 2006, 23:15 CDT

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian militants including the Hamas armed wing said they carried out a dawn raid on an Israeli army post near the Gaza Strip on Sunday, launching bombs and firing automatic weapons.

The militants said there were a number of Israeli casualties. The Israeli army said it had no details except that one of its positions near the Kerem Shalom border crossing had been hit by an anti-tank missile.

"Apparently an anti-tank missile hit the post," an army spokeswoman said.

The Hamas armed wing said it helped carry out the raid, which also involved the People's Resistance Committees (PRC), an umbrella group of militants and the Islamic Army.

"There was an operation to land fighters behind the Kerem Shalom crossing. There is a large number of fatalities and wounded among the enemy," said Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the Hamas armed wing.

The militants said the operation was in response to the Israeli assassination this month of PRC leader Jamal Abu Samhadana and air strikes aimed at militants firing homemade rockets from Gaza that have also killed civilians.

Hamas ended a 16-month-old truce with Israel on June 9 after seven members of one Palestinian family were killed on a Gaza beach during a day of heavy Israeli shelling. Hamas has blamed Israel for those deaths. Israel has denied responsibility.

The militant Islamic group Hamas runs the Palestinian government after winning parliamentary elections in January.

Source: REUTERS

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