Gaza: IDF kills 4 Hamas members
Members of Hamas-led government's security force killed in IAF strike in Sajaiya area; IDF sources: Operations to continue until Gilad Shalit's release
Sources in the Strip reported that the four were killed after being directly hit by a missile fired by an Israeli aircraft. Israel Defense Forces officials confirmed the report on the attack and said that two of the gunmen were killed by a missile, while the other two were killed by ground forces.
The IDF's operation in the Sajaiya neighborhood, which began at the beginning of the week, constitutes another chapter in a series of operations inside the Strip, which began shortly after the attack near Kerem Shalom, in which two fighters were killed and Corporal Gilad Shalit was kidnapped.
Although the IDF admitted during the war in the north that Operation Summer Rains had ended, military officials made it clear that the operations against terror organizations in the strip will continue.
One Palestinian was killed in the IDF's operation in the neighborhood on Sunday, after IDF forces attacked a group of armed terrorists with an anti-tank missile.
Three Hamas members were killed in other incidents during the operation, and more than 20 Palestinians were injured.
About 200 terrorists were killed since the military operation in the Gaza Strip began and hundreds of others were injured. The neighborhood's residents reported that IDF forces continue to operate in the area, along with helicopters.
Hamas halts rocket attacks
Southern Command officers said the IDF will push ahead with military operations against Palestinian armed groups in Gaza involved in firing rockets at Israel and planning other terror attacks.
"We are carrying out a number of operations, of various scales, and we will continue so until Gilad Shalit is freed," one official said. "In operations this week a number of Hamas gunmen were injured, which proves that the group is involved in terror. As a rule, we don't distinguish between groups. Anyone who threatens us will be hit," he said.
IDF incursions into Gaza have focused on uncovering tunnels dug by terror groups to smuggle weapons from Egypt or to bypass the security fence erected around Gaza to wage attack against army posts near the tiny coastal strip.
The IDF established a kilometer-wide buffer zone in Gaza, which will improve the army's interception of attempts to dig tunnels.
Security officials pointed to a drop in the number of Qassam rockets fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip, saying that Hamas is no longer taking part in rocket fire against Israel.
The motivation to fire rockets at Israel among other armed factions remains high, officials said.
Hanan Greenberg contributed to the report
