The Israel Air Force struck a terrorist cell near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis on Friday afternoon, killing one terrorist and wounding at least two others as they were riding on a motorcycle. A second strike on Rafiah was reported shortly before the beginning of the Sabbath, and no details were available.
The attacks came in retaliation for three Kassam rockets that were fired at the nearby Israeli city of Sderot and the Eshkol region earlier in the day. The policy is one which the government has repeatedly told the ruling Hamas terrorist group would be carried out meticulously.
According to the Reuters news agency, the targeted operatives in Khan Yunis were members of the Popular Resistance Committees terrorist organization, one of three groups that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid on June 25, 2006.
However, an Israeli army spokesman said the terrorists were members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, and were preparing a bombing attack against Israel at the time of the strike.
Army Clashes with Rock Throwing PA Arabs Near Hevron
IDF troops clashed with rioting Palestinian Authority Arabs near the Abu Al-Rish checkpoint late Friday afternoon, where they are often delayed or prevented from entering the Ibrahimi Mosque, known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs.
A massive gang of Arab teens and young adults began hurling rocks at the soldiers and at Jewish community members; Friday prayers, which are held on the Muslim Sabbath, are often a flashpoint for violent demonstrations by Arab worshippers and others whipped into a frenzy by nationalist clerics.
Military sources said the teenage leader of the rock-throwing gang that started the clash was killed in the melee when soldiers shot at the lower part of his body.
Arab officials accused IDF soldiers of shooting a 14-year-old teenager in the chest. The parents of the youth, Izz Ad-Din, condemned the IDF for the shooting, claiming their son had left the house to buy some dried goods at the corner store not far from the mosque.