Israeli strike levels Hamas safe house as offensive widens
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli aircraft early today bombarded a safe house where senior commanders of Hamas’ military wing were meeting, killing at least six people. At the same time, Israeli troops and armor widened a two-week-old offensive by pushing into the south-central Gaza Strip, where a senior militant leader was killed.
The actions represented a risky new gambit in Israel’s efforts to free an Israeli soldier held captive by three Palestinian militant factions, including the Hamas military wing, the Izzidin al-Qassam Brigade. The soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, was captured June 25 in a cross-border raid.
The Israeli airstrike leveled a house in Gaza City’s Sheik Radwan neighborhood, where many Hamas figures live. Palestinian security sources said the home, which belonged to Nabil Salmiah, a Hamas leader, was apparently being used as a hide-out by senior commanders.
The Israeli army acknowledged carrying out the strike and said it was meant to thwart attacks. Military officials said a high-level meeting of Hamas commanders was in progress, but Palestinian medical officials said at least three of the dead appeared to be members of Salmiah’s family: a woman and two children.
Though it would be something of a coup for Israeli intelligence to pinpoint and target a gathering of senior Hamas operatives, the strike carried the danger that the captive soldier, a 19-year-old tank gunner, could suffer some form of retaliation. As recently as last weekend, Israeli officials had said they believed he was alive and in relatively good physical condition.
About two dozen people were reported hurt in the massive explosion, which sent shrapnel ricocheting into nearby buildings, smashed water mains and left electrical cables dangling over the rubble. Ambulances converged on the scene, racing through the darkened city streets.
As the airstrike was launched, the entry of troops and tanks via the Kissufim crossing into the south-central Gaza Strip in effect opened a new front in Israel’s incursion, which began June 28 and has killed more than 60 Palestinians.
Armored vehicles rolled into farmland near the densely populated town of Khan Yunis and around the Palestinian village of Deir al Balah, witnesses said.
About the same time, an Israeli airstrike just outside Khan Yunis killed a senior commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, one of the groups apparently holding the Israeli soldier. He was identified as Ala Abu Nouseireh.
It was the first time during the current offensive that troops had entered this area, which is where Shalit was believed to have been taken immediately after his capture. Palestinian militants use fields surrounding Khan Yunis to launch makeshift rockets.
Previously, Israeli forces had seized a disused airport in southern Gaza, clashed last week with Palestinian guerrillas in the north and skirmished this week with fighters on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City.