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Palestinian killed in Israeli army raid in Gaza

Posted on: Wednesday, 23 August 2006, 21:23 CDT

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed a Palestinian and detained a senior member of the governing Hamas movement in a raid in southern Gaza early on Thursday, witnesses said.

Family members said the dead man was the brother of Younis Abu Daqqa, the detained Hamas member.

Witnesses said Israeli commandos clashed with Palestinian gunmen during the raid on a house and that an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles. The Israeli army said it could confirm activity in the area but had no other details.

The raid near the town of Khan Younis was part of an Israeli air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, launched in late June after militants including Hamas gunmen abducted an Israeli soldier in a cross-border attack.

Abu Daqqa is a well-known Hamas leader in southern Gaza. Family members identified the dead brother as Youssef Abu Daqqa, 50. It was unclear how he died.

It was also not known if Youssef Abu Daqqa was a member of Hamas although the family supports the militant Islamist group.

As part of its offensive, Israel has detained dozens of top Hamas officials, including cabinet members and lawmakers in the occupied West Bank.

Israel regards Hamas, which is dedicated to its destruction, as a terrorist group. Hamas took power in the Palestinian territories after winning parliamentary elections in January.

In separate violence, the army fired a tank shell at two militants near the border fence in southern Gaza late on Wednesday, wounding one who was taken to hospital, witnesses said. The whereabouts of the second was unknown, they added.

The army said the men were crawling along the ground near the border fence in a suspicious manner and were fired on.

Gaza, a narrow coastal strip home to 1.4 million Palestinians, was occupied by Israeli troops until August last year, when soldiers and some 8,000 Jewish settlers pulled out after 38 years of occupation.

Source: REUTERS

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