A member of the armed wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas was killed and two others wounded Thursday morning during an Israeli air raid on the Gaza Strip, officials said. Mahmoud al-Hiqi, 27, was killed in a strike on land used for training by the military wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam, in a neighborhood east of Gaza City, sources said.
The spokesman for the Israeli army for his part said in a statement that a raid was conducted against a "Hamas commando" group who was about to fire an anti-tank rocket towards Israeli soldiers "who were engaged in routine activities near the security fence "at the border.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of the Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday called on Egypt to allow trade through the Rafah crossing on the border between Gaza and Egypt.
Haniyeh told the new Egyptian leader what he expected of him, declaring that the crossing should be open 24 hours per day and requesting the free movement of goods.
Today, Gaza gets its good via the crossings with Israel that have agreed just to allow the entrance of humanitarian goods since Hamas took over Gaza by force in 2007.
