Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinian fighters as they approached the Karni Crossing in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, Israel's Army Radio reported.
Israeli troops, backed by tanks and helicopters attacked targets in three Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip late on Tuesday. Bulldozers razed at least five houses in the Khan Yunis camp, according to witnesses and security officials.
Over 20 armored vehicles rolled into a camp in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, and a similar number went into Dir El-Balah, witnesses said.
According to Palestinian sources, a member of the Palestinian security forces was killed in Dir El-Balah early Wednesday by Israeli fire. Abdullah Abd al-Fatah al-Jamal, 25, a resident of Al Bureij, sustained wounds in his stomach and died shortly afterwards in a local hospital, according to the official WAFA news agency.
In addition, Palestinian sources said a Palestinian journalist was injured after Israeli soldiers shot him as he was covering developments in the area. The sources said Mahmoud Al-Hums sustained moderate injuries in his leg.
Meanwhile, dozens of families fled their homes in Rafah, seeking shelter at schools or with relatives away from the scene of the raids, witnesses said.
An Israeli army source said soldiers were attacking targets in all three places. They were searching for tunnels allegedly used to smuggle in weapons and trying to prevent further shootings of mortars and anti-tank rockets at Israelis in Gaza.
The raids were in response to an ambush earlier this week in which five settlers from a Gaza Strip settlement, were shot and killed in a car.
Later in the day, Israeli forces killed a senior Hamas activist identified as Imad Mohammed Janajra, 36, in the Taluza village located adjacent to Nablus in the West Bank.
In another development, Israel released a co-founder of Hamas, Mohammed Taha, 68, to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, witnesses and a military source said.
Taha, 68, had been the highest ranking Hamas figure from Gaza Strip in Israeli custody. He was arrested during a military raid in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip in March 2003.
Witnesses said Taha was freed at the Erez crossing in northern Gaza on Wednesday afternoon, and then driven by supporters to al Bureij.
Taha was received by thousands in al Bureij, and was given a triumphant welcome.
He said Israel's strikes against the Hamas "will soon come down on their own heads and they will regret it only after it will be too late." "If the enemies of God believe that by killing the leaders of the movement they will kill the spirit of steadfastness, they are under an illusion."
Taha helped found Hamas in 1987. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
