- Title: MIDEAST: Israel shows video of air strike on infiltrating militants.
- Date: 6th August 2012
- Summary: CHILDREN HOLDING EGYPTIAN AND PALESTINIAN FLAGS
- Embargoed: 21st August 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA7A5FI7PBW6489HG0J3M42HA3U
- Story Text: The Israeli military publishes cockpit video showing the air strike on one of the vehicles involved in Sunday's deadly attack on the Egyptian border. Gaza residents express their condolences to families of 16 Egyptian security men killed in the attack.
The Israeli military on Monday (August 6) released cockpit video showing an air strike on an armoured personnel carrier stolen by militants from an Egyptian army base and used to infiltrate the Israeli border.
On Sunday (August 5) evening, a group of unidentified gunmen ambushed the Egyptian border police near the Israeli and Gazan borders- who had gathered to break the Ramadan fast after sunset - and opened fire, killing 16 security forces personnel and wounding at least seven.
They then drove off in two vehicles.
One of them exploded near the Israeli frontier while the second was hit by the air force after crossing the border and travelling some 2.5-km (2 miles) into the country, the Israeli army said.
Also on Monday, some of Gaza City's residents paid their respects to the dead Egyptian security men in a mourning tent erected in the centre of the city.
"I am sending my condolences to the Egyptian people, the Egyptian people in general and especially to the families of the martyrs," Gaza resident Sufian Matar said.
Sunday's killings have put an instant strain on close ties between Hamas, the Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip and its neighbour Egypt.
Egypt announced it was closing its border crossing into Gaza "indefinitely", cutting off the sole exit route for most Palestinians at the height of the Muslim-fast month of Ramadan.
Hamas, which condemned the killings of the Egyptians, immediately sealed the warren of smuggling tunnels that connect Gaza with Egypt after Cairo said the gunmen had used these links to reach their territory.
Many key goods, including oil, pass through the tunnels, and a prolonged closure could stymie life in the coastal enclave.
Hamas said it was working with Egypt to try to identify those behind the bloody operation, and was under pressure to bring more radical Islamist groups in Gaza like the Salafi, under control. Hamas spokesperson Taher Al-Nono announced steps were being taken "to help uncover the perpetrators" in coordination with Egypt. He said "no Palestinian could take part in such an ugly crime".
While Hamas and the Salafis share hostility to the Jewish state, the former works within the framework of Palestinian nationalism while the latter subscribe to the globalised holy war popularised by al Qaeda and unfettered by realpolitik.
A Salafi group called "Magles Shoura al-Mujahddin," which claimed a deadly June attack on Israel from Sinai, said in a video statement that it recognised neither Israel nor "claimed or imagined borders between Muslim countries".
Past Hamas sweeps against the armed Salafis, who often try to fire rockets into Israel in defiance of de facto Palestinian truces, have often been low-key, to avoid the appearance of collaboration with Israel.
Crackdowns were more overt when Salafis targeted Gaza women and Christians in religious vigilante attacks or, in the case of one imam in 2009, declared secession from Hamas. That incident drew a Hamas raid on the cleric's mosque which killed 28 people. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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