LOC22:54
19:54 GMT
(With photos)
GAZA, Nov 18 (KUNA) -- Izz Eddin Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of
the Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas), said its fighters managed to shot
down an Israeli warplane in Gaza Strip Sunday evening.
The Apache helicopter was downed by a ground-to-air missile, according to
Hamas-run Al-Aqsa radio station.
The report, citing Al-Qassam sources, noted that the successful downing of
the aircraft was videoed.
In a related development, the militant group said it fired five missiles at
an Israeli frigate off Gaza shores.
The target was hit directly by the missiles of the 107 type, according to a
brief statement aired by local radio stations here.
The doomed frigate was among Israeli warships which came too close to the
shores in apparent attempt to search for the wreckage of an Israeli fighter
plane downed by the resistance forces two days ago.
The statement noted that the attack against the Israeli naval ships is part
of the surprises Al-Qassam vowed to reveal in the wake of the murder of the
group's leader Ahmed Al-Jabari at the onset of the Israeli military campaign
on Gaza on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) indirectly admitted that their
campaign on Gaza, codenamed "Operation Pillar of Defense" failed to deter the
militant groups from firing missiles into Israel.
Several southwestern towns in Israel, including Ashdod, Beersheba, Ashkelon
and Sderot, have been bombarded by a barrage of rockets today, Israel Radio
reported quoted and IDF spokesman.
At least 18 missiles were fired in a few minutes at Israeli towns, some of
which are 40 km away from Gaza Strip this midday; the figure took to 70 the
total number of missiles fired since Sunday morning.
The military spokesperson claimed that 17 missiles were intercepted by the
Iron Dome system, but other missiles hit residential areas directly.
Rocket alert sirens were sounded in the Israeli southern towns at 2:00 pm,
amid reports that seven Israelis were wounded in the missile and mortar
attacks.
An Israeli man, in his 20s, was injured in Sderot town in western Negev,
northeast Gaza, was wounded when a mortal shell landed in Sha'ar Hanegev
Regional Council in the town.
Two others were injured when a missile hit a four-story building in Western
Negev.
In Ofakim, some 25 km from the borders with southern Gaza Strip, 4 persons
were injured, one of them seriously, as a result of a volley of Grad missiles
from the Strip.
One of the rockets exploded close to their car, the IDF said.
Al-Qassam said in a night update that its fighters fired a missile of the
domestically-developed Fajr 5 type, at Tel Aviv, in retaliation for the
massacre committed by the Israeli forces against Al-Dalow family in Gaza.
The IDF calmed that the Iron Dome intercepted the rocket, thus preventing
any human or material damage.
The serious escalation of the Israeli aggression triggered angry reactions
in the occupied Palestinian territories and beyond.
In Tulkarm, to the northwest of the West Bank, hundreds of Palestinian
youths marched from Jamal Abdulnasser Sq., downtown the city, towards the
Israeli industrial area, built on land owned by local Palestinians and
confiscated by Israel, in protest against the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
The protesters chanted pro-Hamas and anti-Israel slogans; soon after they
approached the industrial zone, the Israeli forces fired tear gas and rubber
bullets at them.
At least 20 protesters were injured and some media people suffered
suffocation due to the tear gas.
Similarly, dozens of Palestinian protesters were injured, and scores of
them were detained in the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Nablus when the
Israeli occupation forces responded harshly to their protests.
In Turkey thousands of demonstrators gathered in Ankara, Istanbul and Rize
to condemn the "Zionist brutal aggression" and show solidarity with the Gazans.
They hoisted Palestinian flags and castigated the silence of the
international community at the atrocities against civilians in, and the
embargo on, Gaza Strip. (pickup previous)
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