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Israel kills senior Hamas rocket maker
By Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Israeli warplanes fired missiles, killing a senior commander of the Hamas military wing and wounding 11 people in five targets hit across Gaza overnight, the group and the military said today.
The Israeli military said the strikes were in response to a powerful rocket fired from Gaza that hit the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon yesterday, causing damage but no injuries.
Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers said their slain member was Issa Batran, 42, a commander of the groups' military wing in central Gaza and a senior rocket maker.
Batran had survived several previous Israeli attempts to kill him, but his wife and five of his children were killed during Israel's three-week war in Gaza that ended in January 2009.
The cross-border violence came after weeks of relative calm and raised concerns of further escalation.
A Hamas spokesman said the militant group would avenge Batran's killing.
"Hamas will not be quiet over the blood of its martyrs," said Hamad al-Rakabi. "Israel is opening all the gates of fire. This blood will cascade into rage and fire," al-Rakabi said.
Hamas said eight of its supporters and three civilians were also wounded in the overnight airstrikes.
The strikes hit a smuggling tunnel that runs under the Gaza-Egypt border used for smuggling weapons, the military said, as well as Batran's shack in central Gaza, which was likely used to make rockets, and a Hamas military training camp in Gaza City.
By Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Israeli warplanes fired missiles, killing a senior commander of the Hamas military wing and wounding 11 people in five targets hit across Gaza overnight, the group and the military said today.
The Israeli military said the strikes were in response to a powerful rocket fired from Gaza that hit the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon yesterday, causing damage but no injuries.
Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers said their slain member was Issa Batran, 42, a commander of the groups' military wing in central Gaza and a senior rocket maker.
Batran had survived several previous Israeli attempts to kill him, but his wife and five of his children were killed during Israel's three-week war in Gaza that ended in January 2009.
The cross-border violence came after weeks of relative calm and raised concerns of further escalation.
A Hamas spokesman said the militant group would avenge Batran's killing.
"Hamas will not be quiet over the blood of its martyrs," said Hamad al-Rakabi. "Israel is opening all the gates of fire. This blood will cascade into rage and fire," al-Rakabi said.
Hamas said eight of its supporters and three civilians were also wounded in the overnight airstrikes.
The strikes hit a smuggling tunnel that runs under the Gaza-Egypt border used for smuggling weapons, the military said, as well as Batran's shack in central Gaza, which was likely used to make rockets, and a Hamas military training camp in Gaza City.
