6 soldiers lightly to moderately injured in Gaza
Three troops sustain light to moderate wounds during IDF operation in Gaza; other three lightly hurt. Soldiers evacuated to Beersheba hospital by helicopter. Sources in Strip report 33 Palestinians, most of them Hamas gunmen, killed in exchanges of fire with Israeli forces
An IDF soldier was moderately hurt during an IDF operation in Gaza Saturday and taken to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba for treatment.
Earlier, five IDF soldiers were lightly to moderately injured during an Israeli operation in the northern Gaza Strip.
Two of the soldiers sustained light to moderate wounds, and the other three were lightly injured. The troops were evacuated via helicopter to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
Palestinians reported that 33 Palestinians, half of them civilians and the rest Hamas members, were killed in the operation, and more than 60 were injured.
According to the report, the gunmen were firing mortar shells, antitank and RPG missiles at the soldiers. Fatah's military wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, claimed responsibility for firing the missiles at the troops.
Givati and armor forces were deployed near Sajaiya on Friday night, not far from the populated area, in a routine operation aimed at uncovering terror infrastructures in a bid to thwart terror attacks planned in the border fence area.
"The activity is taking place in areas which the terror organizations want to guard, including launching pads," a military source explained.
Soldier injured in operation evacuated to hospital (Photo: Herzel Yosef)
The forces entered the Strip after more than 100 Qassam and Grad rockets had been fired at Ashkelon, Sderot and the western Negev communities since Wednesday.
The ground forces were aided by the Israel Air Force. During the activity, the gunmen were fired at from the air. The five soldiers were wounded in their hands and legs while clashing with Palestinian gunmen.
Dr. Gadi Shaked, head of the trauma room at the Soroka Medical Center, told Ynet that the soldiers were mainly hurt by shrapnel and were hospitalized in various units.
On Friday evening, the IDF reported that it had struck a weapon manufacturing site in the central Strip, as well as a rocket launching pad in the northern Strip.
At around midnight, sources in Hamas reported that Eyad al-Ashram, an arms expert, died when a missile fired by the IDF struck open ground after dark in the north of Gaza.
During the Gaza operation, more than 30 Qassam rockets were fired at Sderot, Ashkelon and the western Negev. Two of the rockets directly hit houses in Ashkelon. Three people, including two five and nine-year-old children, were lightly injured by shrapnel. One of the houses sustained heavy damage.
