Sep. 12, 2006

IDF tracker killed during operation in central Gaza Strip

By Yaakov Katz

An IDF soldier was killed on Tuesday during an operation in the Gaza Strip.

The soldier, a Beduin tracker, was operating with a Paratrooper reserve unit near the Kissufim Crossing, a few hundred meters from the border fence in the central Gaza Strip.

The troops entered into a Palestinian home where they were confronted by two gunmen who shot and killed the tracker.

The armed wing of Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the shooting.

IDF paratroopers and combat engineers, accompanied by tanks, had been operating in the Deir el-Balah area, a few hundred meters from the Gaza-Israel border fence, since Monday night in an attempt to destroy Palestinian terrorist infrastructure.

The move was part of the recent IDF operations in the Gaza Strip aimed at uncovering tunnels used by Palestinian operatives and destroying Palestinian terror cells.

Overnight Monday, IAF aircraft struck a warehouse containing large stocks of weapons in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians said that the blast destroyed the home of a senior Hamas operative. No one was wounded in the attack, Army Radio reported.

The IDF confirmed the airstrike.

The house belonged to a Hamas official who works with Interior Minister Said Siyyam, a Palestinian security official said. The family was warned by phone shortly before the attack that the house would be targeted, and were thus able to escape unharmed, added the official.

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