The Guardian
An Israeli officer has been killed and another injured during a raid by Israeli special forces in Gaza on Sunday. The military operation killed seven Palestinians including, according to Hamas, one of its commanders.
Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas denounced the “cowardly Israeli attack” in which, the organisation said, assailants in a passing civilian car opened fire on a group of its armed men, killing one of its commanders, Nour Baraka. Hamas said its gunmen gave chase as the car sped back towards the border with Israel.
The Israeli military said in a statement: “During an IDF [Israel Defense Forces] special forces operational activity in the Gaza Strip, an exchange of fire evolved.” One officer was killed and a second was wounded, and all Israeli soldiers were back in Israel, it said.
The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would cut short his trip to Paris, where he had been attending world war one commemorations, and return home. The conflict potentially dashes hopes that a recent agreement would restore calm.
After the violence erupted, sirens were reported in southern Israel indicating possible rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. The army said two launches from Gaza were intercepted by Israeli missile defences.
Palestinian officials said the incident occurred east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
A ground operation inside the Gaza Strip would be rare and likely to significantly boost tensions.
The clash comes after months of deadly unrest along the Gaza-Israel border had appeared to be calming. Recent weeks have seen Israeli decisions to allow Qatar to provide the Gaza Strip with millions of dollars in aid for salaries as well as fuel to help ease an electricity crisis.
Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008, and recent months of unrest have raised fears of a fourth. Deadly clashes have accompanied major protests along the Gaza-Israel border that began on 30 March 30.
At least 227 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, the majority shot during protests and clashes, since the demonstrations began, while others died in tank fire or air strikes. One Israeli soldier has been killed along the Gaza border in that time.
On Friday, Palestinian civil servants began receiving payments after months of sporadic salary disbursements in cash-strapped Gaza, with $15m delivered into the enclave through Israel in suitcases by Qatar.
A total of $90m is to be distributed in six-monthly instalments, Gaza authorities said, primarily to cover the salaries of officials working for Hamas.
Qatar has also said it would hand out $100 to each of 50,000 poor families, as well as larger sums to Palestinians wounded in clashes along the Gaza-Israel border.
The Gulf emirate has also started buying additional fuel for Gaza‘s sole power station, allowing outages to be reduced to their lowest level in years.
