- Title: GAZA: CLASHES CONTINUE BETWEEN ISRAEL ARMY AND PALESTINIAN MILITANTS IN GAZA
- Date: 7th December 2004
- Summary: (U3) NEAR GAZA CITY, GAZA (DECEMBER 7, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV PALESTINIAN YOUTH RUNNING AWAY FROM BUILDING 0.05 2. SLV PALESTINIAN MILITANT FIRING TOWARDS ISRAELI GUNSHIPS 0.11 3. LV ISRAELI HELICOPTER GUNSHIP 0.17 4. SLV/SV ISRAELI TANK (2 SHOTS) 0.27 5. MCU (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED ISLAMIC JIHAD MEMBER SAYING: "This morning a
- Embargoed: 22nd December 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEAR GAZA CITY, KARNI CROSSING, NEAR GAZA
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVA5C91211RZ0DHMJUYNA5ITQGL7
- Story Text: Clashes continue between Israeli army and
Palestinian militants in Gaza.
An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian militant were
killed in Gaza on Tuesday (December 7) in a resurgence of
violence that could threaten efforts to instil calm for a
Palestinian election for a successor to Yasser Arafat.
Hamas gunmen detonated a bomb hidden in a chicken coop
that troops were searching and then opened fire, killing
one soldier and wounding four others. Israeli forces
hunting for the attackers killed an Islamic Jihad militant
in a missile strike.
"This morning at 2 a.m., Israeli forces made an
incursion in Shejaia neighbourhood and we - a group of the
Jerusalem brigade of Islamic Jihad - confronted them and
when the Israeli tanks tried to enter Shejaia we did our
Jihad duty. They fired a missile that led to the martyrdom
of our brother in arms Ismail Al-Sawarka. He was killed
while trying to fire an al-quds missile at an Israeli
tank," said an unidentified Islamic Jihad militant at the
scene.
The Hamas ambush, which shattered a relative lull in
fighting in occupied Gaza since Arafat's death last month,
came amid a bid by moderate former prime minister Mahmoud
Abbas to coax militants into a ceasefire ahead of a January
9 election.
Tuesday's incident began while soldiers were searching
for weapons at a farm on the Karni-Netzarim road close to a
Jewish settlement near the eastern part of Gaza City,
military officials said. The booby-trap explosion inflicted
the army's first combat fatality in the Gaza Strip in more
than a month. A bomb-sniffing dog accompanying the soldiers
was also killed.
Palestinian gunmen from the militant Islamic group Hamas
opened fire after the blast and launched anti-tank rockets
at the troops. A brief gunbattle ensued.
During a hunt for the gunmen, Israeli forces fired a
missile at a group of armed men, killing one who was
identified by doctors as a member of Islamic Jihad.
Four other Palestinians, including a 14-year-old youth,
were wounded during intermittent fighting that followed the
pre-dawn incident in central Gaza, Palestinian medics said.
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