Palestinians killed in Gaza fighting
Four Palestinian resistance fighters have been killed in clashes in the Gaza Strip which broke out after an Israeli military patrol was ambushed.
Aljazeera’s correspondent in Palestine reported that two members of the resistance group al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad’s military wing, were killed in an air strike on Tuesday.
The fighters were Ismail Ahmad al-Sawarka, 24, from Jabalya refugee camp, and Amir Abd al-Hamid Slail, 20, from al-Shijaiya neighbourhood.
Ten Palestinian civilians were injured, one seriously in the attack. Another was rendered brain dead, the correspondent said.
Explosions
The Israeli strike came shortly after two explosive devices detonated as an Israeli occupation military convoy passed near the Karni (Mintar) crossing east of Gaza City, killing one soldier and wounding four, the correspondent reported.
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Israeli troops mounted a raid on |
The military wing of Hamas, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for planting and detonating the explosive devices.
In the ensuing firefight, two Hamas fighters were killed.
Israeli troops in about 20 armoured vehicles mounted an extensive raid on the al-Shijaiya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City.
Breakthrough
Meanwhile, Aljazeera’s office in Gaza on Tuesday received a phone call from a spokesman of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, saying the group had broken through the security of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency.
A number of Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades activists are acting as double-agents inside al-Shabak, in order to feed it information about Israeli army movements and operations in the Gaza Strip, the correspondent quoted the spokesman as saying.
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Hamas says it has double-agents |
The double-agents who are helping Hamas once worked with the Israeli army but switched sides after regretting their actions, reported the correspondent.
Monday’s ambush near the Karni crossing was an example of the trap Israeli soldiers were led into by the collaborators, Hamas said.
There has been a relative lull in clashes in the Gaza Strip since Palestinian president Yasir Arafat died of an undisclosed illness at a French hospital on 11 November.
Mahmud Abbas, his successor as Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman and a leading candidate to replace him as Palestinian Authority president, has sought to convince resistance groups to halt attacks to pave the way for renewed peace talks with Israel.