LOC10:51
07:51 GMT
By Zakaria Al-Tilmis
GAZA, April 11 (KUNA) -- Israeli Army troops advanced toward eastern
fringes of Al-Buraij refugee camp in the center of Gaza Strip under cover of a
hail of gunfire on Friday, witnesses said.
The witnesses told KUNA the assaulting forces, equipped with tanks,
military vehicles and bulldozers, came in at high speed from a nearby military
outpost, and immediately began searching houses and properties.
The forces got embroiled in armed clashes with Palestinian fighters from
various factions, they said.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, said in a statement
its fighters hit an Israeli tank with a rocket propelled grenade near the
shanty town.
Late on Thursday, Israeli trops withdrew from Wadi Al-Salqa in the central
region of the strip after operating there for several hours, detaining scores
of suspected militants.
Another group, Al-Nasser Salah-Eddine of the Popular Resistance Committee,
said its fighters took part in the resistance of the Israeli troops that
carried out the incursion near Al-Buraij camp. The advancing forces were
targeted with mortar shells, it said.
Israel declared, on Thursday, cutting off all contacts with the Palestinian
organizations via Egypt to reach a sustainable truce and warned to launch
wide-scale offensives on the strip. The Tel Aviv cabinet held a session
debating means of retaliating for an attack on Nahal Oz passageway on
Wednesday, where two Israeli soldiers were killed.
The cabinet decided to cancel a scheduled visit by an envoy to Egypt for
pursuing the truce efforts. (end)
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