Gaza Crossing Hit by Mortars
By Tzippe Barrow
CBN News - Jerusalem Bureau
June 3, 2007
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - On Sunday morning, four Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, injured by shrapnel, were evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, following a mortar attack by Palestinians at the Erez Crossing, the only entry point between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Another mortar shell damaged a hothouse in the nearby community of Netiv Ha'asera, but no one was injured.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Over the weekend, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired nine Kassam rockets into Israel, damaging a home in the besieged western Negev town of Sderot. There were no injuries.
Also on Sunday, IDF troops operating in the Palestinian Authority- (PA) controlled city of Jenin returned fire, killing 22-year-old Mohammed Amin Farahati, associated with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.
Farahati led a Jenin-based terror cell that coordinated activities between Islamic Jihad and Fatah's military wing. An M16 assault rifle lay beside his body.
Saturday night, IDF troops blew up a stone barricade in the center of Nablus erected to prevent Israeli security personnel from apprehending wanted terrorists holed up in the city. A Palestinian woman was lightly injured during the operation.
In a separate incident, IDF troops shot and killed two young Palestinians, aged 11 and 13, accompanied by a 16-year-old, approaching the security fence near the former Israeli community of Dugit in northern Gaza.
Ignoring shouts and warning shots by the soldiers, who suspected the three were planting a bomb along the fence, the soldiers opened fire, killing two and moderately wounding the third. The moderately wounded teenager was transported by ambulance to Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital.
While Palestinian sources claim the teenagers were looking for building materials along the fence line, it's not uncommon for terrorists to bribe children or teenagers to approach the security fence.
A few hours later, an IDF air strike killed senior Islamic Jihad member Fadi Abu-Mustafa on his motorcycle near the Khan Yunis camp in the Gaza Strip. It was the first targeted killing since the government renewed its policy two weeks ago of targeting terrorist leaders.
Over the past four years, Mustafa planned terror attacks that included drive-by shootings, cross-border attacks on IDF patrols, roadside bombs and recruiting suicide bombers.
Source: The Jerusalem Post, Israel National News
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