Israeli tanks and helicopters raided the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing the son of a senior Hamas leader and 17 other Palestinians. The previous toll given by the medics was 15 .
Meanwhile, Palestinian sniper fire across the border killed a volunteer from Ecuador at an Israeli communal farm.
Sources in Gaza Strip reported the killing of Hussam Zahar, 24, the son of Hamas leader and former foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar. At the morgue at Shifa Hospital, Mahmoud Zahar held his dead son's head in his hands and closed his eyes, then kissed him three times on the forehead and recited a verse from the Muslim holy book, the Quran.
Hamas, he vowed, "will respond in the appropriate way. We will defend ourselves by all means." Another Zahar son was killed in a botched Israeli assassination attempt against the Hamas leader in his home three years ago.
The operation Tuesday started when undercover Israeli troops moved several hundred yards into the territory to strike an abandoned house east of Gaza City that rocket launchers used, Hamas said, according to the AP. When Palestinian militants discovered the force, an exchange of fire erupted, the militants said. In the ensuing clashes, Israeli tanks fired at least three shells and aircraft struck twice in the area, Hamas said.
Of the 18 dead Palestinians, five were civilians. At least five Palestinians were in a serious condition, following the incursion into the al-Shojaeya and al-Zaytoun neighborhoods of east Gaza City.
The Israeli army confirmed an operation in the area, saying troops fired at gunmen who had approached the border fence. After an exchange of fire broke out, aircraft also fired at the gunmen, the military said. The Israeli forces withdrew from the area at approximately 12:30.
In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described what happened in Gaza Strip as a carnage against the Palestinian people. He told reporters that "we say to Israel and all the world that such Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people could not be tolerated nor would bring peace in any way."
As for negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis, Abbas said that negotiations started Monday but there was no progress, adding that time is enough to advance in the peace process this year if there is an Israeli serious will to make peace.
In the course of the fighting, a Palestinian sniper fired from the border area into Israel, killing a volunteer from Ecuador who was working in a field at the communal farm of Ein Hashlosha, Israeli rescue officials said. Hamas' military wing claimed responsibility.
In the afternoon, the armed wing of Hamas Movement, the Qassam Brigades, announced that its fighters fired nine homemade missiles at the Israeli town of Sderot to the northeast of Gaza Strip in reprisal to the Israeli raid. Three Israelis were hospitalized.
In response an Israeli aircraft launched a missile towards a group of Palestinian gunners, killing two of them.
This latest raid comes one day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he was opposed to a large scale military operation in the Gaza Strip. "It is highly advisable not to become entangled in operations and cost that are not in proportion to the pressures that we are facing," Olmert said, according to Haaretz. Olmert added that he does not downplay the gravity of the distress caused by the Qassam rockets, and that "if we think that we can do more, we will, but there is no need to get all fired up about it."
