- Title: GAZA: Six Hamas members are killed by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza
- Date: 5th February 2008
- Summary: WOMAN CRYING AFTER HER HUSBAND IDENTIFIED ONE OF THE BODIES MAN AND WOMAN CRYING, HUGGING EACH OTHER
- Embargoed: 20th February 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA9A9SNL1SBE8STJEI3BQEVF7P2
- Story Text: Israeli forces killed at least eight Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday (February 5), a day after a suicide bombing in Israel claimed by the Islamist group.
Six of the Hamas men were killed by an air strike on a security post in southern Gaza and two other armed members of the movement were shot dead by Israeli soldiers near the border with Egypt.
Israeli sonic booms shook windows in Gaza City, fraying nerves and raising fears of an intensive Israeli military campaign in retaliation for Monday's (February 4) bombing in the desert town of Dimona.
A senior member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's party, Tzachi Hanegbi, urged the Israeli government to step up its fight against Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip in June, by assassinating the group's political leaders.
A Hamas security officer said its members were ordered to take "all necessary precautions", including turning off cellular phones that could be tracked by Israeli drones that routinely fly over the Gaza Strip.
Hamas's armed wing claimed responsibility for the Dimona bombing, which killed an Israeli woman, a Hamas source in the Gaza Strip told Reuters. It was the first such attack claimed by the group since 2004.
The bomber and another attacker, shot by police before he could detonate his explosives belt, were also killed. The Hamas source said the two men came from the West Bank town of Hebron.
Describing the latest air strike, Hamas officials said men in the security position had been holding afternoon prayers when missiles struck. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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