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IDF troops leaving the Gaza Strip on Monday (AP)
Last update - 08:25 05/03/2008
Palestinians: Top Jihad man, infant killed in IDF raid in southern Gaza
By Yuval Azoulay, Mijal Grinberg and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies
Tags: Qassam, Hamas, Israel, Gaza

A senior Islamic Jihad operative and a two-week-old Palestinian infant were killed after nightfall on Tuesday in a brief Israel Defense Forces ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said, just a day after Israel ended a 48-hour ground incursion in northern Gaza against Palestinian rocket squads.

Defense officials said that Yussuf Samiri, the top Islamic Jihad militant killed, was the intended target of the operation.

Some 25 Israel Defense Forces armored vehicles briefly entered the southern Gaza Strip and troops clashed with militants, witnesses said.
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Witnesses said the armored column entered Gaza through the Kissufim crossing, which was the main crossing point for Israeli settlers in Gaza before Israel's 2005 withdrawal from the Strip.

The soldiers arrested two Islamic Jihad militants and were pulling out two hours after the incursion, witnesses said.

Israel Air Force helicopters circled overhead near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis as IDF soldiers surrounded the home of a militant, witnesses said. Islamic Jihad said the man was a leader of its armed wing.

Witnesses said IDF tanks fired shells and fighter helicopters fired missiles. A two-week-old baby girl, Amira Abu-Assar, was killed by a ricocheting bullet, medical officials said. Also, eight militants and three civilians were wounded, none of them seriously, the officials said.

The brief operation came as some Israeli officials were calling for a large-scale invasion of Gaza to stop the cross-border rocket attacks, which this week have ranged as far as the coastal city of Ashkelon, 17 kilometers north of Gaza.

Earlier Tuesday, two Palestinian militants were killed in two separate IAF strikes on the Gaza Strip, shortly after a Qassam rocket scored a direct hit on a house in the western Negev town of Sderot.

The IDF said the strikes, which were carried out north of Jabalya and east of Gaza City, targeted militants who were engaged in firing Qassam rockets at Israel.

One of the militants was identified as Ayman Cahouji, a member of Hamas.

No injuries were reported in the rocket attack on Sderot, but the building, which was empty at the time, sustained severe damage.

Meanwhile Tuesday, Israel allowed dozens of trucks carrying food and medical supply to enter the Strip through Kerem Shalom Crossing.

Three truckloads were donated by the Jordanian government, and another two were ordered by the Palestinian health minister from the Israeli Teva pharmaceutical conglomerate.

Also Tuesday, official censorship was lifted on the fact that a Katyusha rocket fired in recent days from the Gaza Strip struck near the home of Public Security Minister Avi Dichter in Ashkelon.

Late Monday, the IAF fired a missile at a group of Palestinian militants firing rockets from the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun, killing one man, Palestinian officials said.

A second strike in the same area caused no casualties, they said.

The IDF confirmed both strikes, saying the first hit a rocket squad and the second struck a donkey cart loaded with rockets.

Earlier Monday, an Egyptian helicopter on Monday accidentally violated the airspace of the Gaza Strip, and was escorted by IAF aircraft back into Egypt's airspace.

Also on Monday, the IDF pulled its ground troops out of the Gaza Strip, and Hamas seized the pullout to declare "victory" in the intensive fighting that has killed more than 100 people in recent days.

The pullback followed days of sequential fighting that drew an appeal from Washington to end violence and rescue peace talks with the Palestinians.

The withdrawal came after the IDF senior command on Sunday recommended keeping up intensive military pressure on Hamas.

Medics and Hamas have said about half of those killed in recent days have been civilians, including women and children, but IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said that of the 100 fatalities, 90 were armed militants.

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      1.   Good response IDF 10:20  |  Adrian de Klerk 04/03/08
      2.   Women, children and now donkeys! 11:01  |  Murray of Montreal 04/03/08
      3.   Peace with the Arabs. 11:55  |  Jean Van Daem 04/03/08
      4.   #3 Jean 12:49  |  James 04/03/08
      5.   to *4 James you are the idiot for not understanding what... 13:32  |  maurice 04/03/08
      6.   #4/ james 13:33  |  bernie 04/03/08
      7.   Unfair 14:00  |  Malik 04/03/08
      8.   Malik in gaza 14:24  |  ChanahS 04/03/08
      9.   Another 2 innocent civilian terrorists killed 14:26  |  Dan 04/03/08
      10.   they don`t see it as threat but only as miracle until.... 14:48  |  Ben Menachem 04/03/08
      11.   7 better that you complain then Israel suffering casualties 14:51  |  chico 04/03/08
      12.   Malik member of ifd. -- are you blond too? 14:51  |  x-ray 04/03/08
      13.   #7 Malik and fairness 15:05  |  DR 04/03/08
      14.   #4 James - Tell us what your "Orginal thoughts are 15:18  |  * BEN JABO 04/03/08
      15.   #7 Malik - Gaza 15:25  |  * BEN JABO 04/03/08
      16.   IAF strike kills two Gaza millitants 15:39  |  Gershon Ron 04/03/08
      17.   The coward Dichter using Israeli civilian population as human 15:39  |  Andreas 04/03/08
      18.   Maurice, btw. your Chef is not pleased at all with how you are 15:42  |  Andreas 04/03/08
      19.   Russkie drunkard Andreas got loose from Swiss jail and 16:10  |  Absolute Sweden 04/03/08
      20.   Absolute Idiot 18:07  |  Kimmo 04/03/08
      21.   Malik 18:12  |  Gil 04/03/08
      22.   Maintaining kill to launch ratio?? 18:19  |  Voice of Reason 04/03/08
      23.   Nothing is over 18:29  |  John J 04/03/08
      24.   Olmert did not learn anything 18:40  |  Just Cause 04/03/08
      25.   Kimmo from Finland still faints lest Russians get mad at him 20:33  |  Absolute Sweden 04/03/08
      26.   UAVs vs Rocket terrorists 21:16  |  Brod 04/03/08
      27.   #25 21:27  |  Rich 04/03/08
      28.   Olmert Needs to Go, This Man Is No PM Or Leader 21:37  |  Shepherd 04/03/08
      29.   palestinian women 22:00  |  yossi 04/03/08
      30.   don`t stop till you get enough 22:07  |  frenz 04/03/08
      31.   If the Situation Were Reversed 22:09  |  Dave Levy 04/03/08
      32.   Until Israel Acts to Win, This Will Continue 22:16  |  Dave Levy 04/03/08
      33.   Cowardly Andreas 18 22:17  |  ChanahS 04/03/08
      34.   Israeli scum of the earth 22:22  |  Clickfool 04/03/08
      35.   New IDF op ends. Rockets stopped: 0, Babies killed: 1 22:23  |  Yossi 04/03/08
      36.   Egypt is the real problem 22:38  |  gsquaredb 04/03/08
      37.   Evite 22:46  |  David 04/03/08
      38.   all the conflict 22:53  |  jobo 04/03/08
      39.   gaza situation 23:08  |  peaceneik 04/03/08
      40.   Isreali Helmet 23:11  |  Calyxcrater 04/03/08
      41.   to # 32 23:18  |  Proud Plaestinian 04/03/08
      42.   #33 Channah S and cowardice 23:18  |  Labhras 04/03/08
      43.   # 8 Channah S re ????? 23:27  |  Labhras 04/03/08
      44.   "Victorious HAMAS" will not have peace of mind till QASSAMS/GRAD 23:33  |  Vittorio 04/03/08
      45.   Hamas Made Up All This Baby Death 23:45  |  Ron 04/03/08
      46.   How come....... 23:48  |  Avrum 04/03/08
      47.   RE: Israeli helmets 23:48  |  duff 04/03/08
      48.   Unfortunate Deaths in Gaza 23:52  |  Douglas Fireman 04/03/08
      49.   Infant killed 00:11  |  Colin Wright 05/03/08
      50.   Clickfool 00:18  |  Honest Observation 05/03/08
      51.   JOHN J #23 HAHA Straigt out of Braveheart 00:44  |  kobz 05/03/08
      52.   According to DF: Op killed more civils than 7 years of Kassams 00:45  |  Math 05/03/08
      53.   Well done, IDF! 00:46  |  Israeli Kids 05/03/08
      54.   to #22 `Maintaining kill to launch ratio` 00:48  |  Colin Wright 05/03/08
      55.   #42 Squatter labhras 00:48  |  Norman 05/03/08
      56.   Islamists`s donkey cart loaded with rockets 00:52  |  Analyst 05/03/08
      57.   Islamists`s donkey cart loaded with rockets 00:52  |  Analyst 05/03/08
      58.   clickFOOL # 34 wheres the proof that it was as israeli bullet 00:53  |  terrornator 05/03/08
      59.   Another 2 innocent civilian terrorists killed 00:56  |  Rozz 05/03/08
      60.   proud palestinian,exactly what are you proud of? 00:57  |  terrornator 05/03/08
      61.   what brave "freedom fighters" who hide behind babies 00:57  |  don 05/03/08
      62.   please someone tell me what BTW means? 01:07  |  Rozz 05/03/08
      63.   @Ron in 45 01:12  |  Anat 05/03/08
      64.   Hard to believe 01:16  |  Anti-Psycho 05/03/08
      65.   Hard to believe 01:16  |  Anti-Psycho 05/03/08
      66.   Arab MKs Lead Rock-Throwing Demo. Israel style democracy 01:18  |  George a gentile 05/03/08
      67.   logic is a 2 way street 01:22  |  spyglass 05/03/08
      68.   "Palestinians:IDF kills...." 01:26  |  spyglass 05/03/08
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      70.   BRAVO IDF 01:39  |  alan