Thursday, November 02, 2006

IDF deepens hold in north Gaza; IAF fires at gunmen

From THE JERUSALEM POST, Oct. 31, 2006, by Josh Brannon ...

IDF forces deepened its hold in the northern Gaza Strip overnight as Operation 'Autumn Clouds' - aimed at cracking down on the firing of Kassam rockets at southern Israel - entered its second day.

For a Jerusalem Online video of events click here

The IAF fired missiles at a group of over 10 armed Palestinians who gathered at the center of the town of Beit Hanoun just before dawn. Dozens of Palestinian gunmen swarmed to Beit Hanun to engage IDF units that raided the northern Gaza Strip village Tuesday night.
After a day of fierce battles, an IDF soldier and at least 10 gunmen were killed but rockets continued to fall inside the Green Line.









St.-Sgt. Kiril Golenshin, 21, a dog-handler in the crack "Sting" canine unit from Moshav Shekef in the Negev, was killed before dawn when gunmen opened fire on troops as they navigated the narrow alleyways of the village, IDF officials said. Golenshin was shot in the head and was evacuated quickly, but died soon afterwards.

Despite IDF action in Beit Hanun, northern Gaza Kassam rocket squads still managed to fire nine of their crude rockets at communities in the western Negev. Army sources said the missiles were fired four kilometers to the south.

.....Israeli officials suggested the operation, dubbed Operation Autumn Clouds, would last days, and did not represent a widening of the overall campaign in Gaza. The operation, described by the army as the largest strike against Hamas since reentering the Gaza Strip four months ago, began just after midnight when tanks and armored engineering units surrounded the village.
In firefights throughout the day, IDF soldiers killed 10 gunmen and identified hits on at least 60 others, an IDF spokesman in the Southern Command said.....

Tovah Lazaroff and AP contributed to this report.

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