GAZA: A local commander of the Islamic Jihad and other gunmen escape an Israeli airstrike backed by Israeli tanks armoured personnel carriers and helicopters that targeted their car in east Beit Hanoun

Record ID: 354186

  • Title: GAZA: A local commander of the Islamic Jihad and other gunmen escape an Israeli airstrike backed by Israeli tanks armoured personnel carriers and helicopters that targeted their car in east Beit Hanoun
  • Date: 16th July 2006
  • Summary: LOW ANGLE SHOT / PAN: HELICOPTER OVERHEAD
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA2BHB53D3690PYVSJ42KNIB62H
  • Story Text: A local commander of the Islamic Jihad and other gunmen escaped an Israeli airstrike that targeted their car in east Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza on Sunday (July 16).
    The Gaza operation, aimed at recovering a captured soldier and stopping armed groups from firing makeshift rockets, has piled pressure on the Palestinian government led by Hamas, which demands a prisoner swap for the seized Israeli corporal.
    Israeli troops had pulled out of the northern Gaza Strip a week earlier after a major raid into the territory, which Israel abandoned in 2005 after a 38-year occupation.
    But on Sunday Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers, backed by helicopters firing machineguns, moved into farmland near Beit Hanoun, an area militants use to fire rockets into Israel.
    An Israeli air strike hit a vehicle carrying militants in Beit Hanoun, witnesses and the army said. The gunmen escaped unharmed but the car, which witnesses said appeared to be carrying explosives, was destroyed.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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