GAZA: Israeli tanks rumbled into the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, sparking clashes with local Palestinian fighters, witnesses and the Israeli military said.
Three tanks accompanied with two bulldozers rolled about 100 meters into Al-Nahda neighborhood east of Rafah city, just meters away from the closed Gaza International Airport.
The troops remained in the area six hours protecting the bulldozers, which leveled cultivated lands before pulling out.
The tanks did not respond to the Palestinian fire.
The Israeli military described the activity as “a routine operation to uncover explosive devices near the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip.” It said two mortars were fired at troops, causing no injuries or damage.
Resistance groups said they fired both mortars and rockets. Gaza security officials said the military withdrew from the area by early afternoon.
The new Israeli incursion comes amid a crumbling Israeli-Palestinian truce in Gaza, which went into effect on June 19.
Both Israel and leaders of Hamas have said they hoped the Egyptian-brokered truce could be preserved. But a small, Hamas-allied group said they consider the truce to have broken down, and Israel has threatened to hit hard if the rocket fire persists.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry accused Israel of subverting the truce. “We call on the Palestinian factions to meet to begin an immediate re-evaluation of the calm,” spokesman Ihab Ghussein said.
Mahmoud Zahar, a top Hamas leader, said he supported maintaining the truce, so long as the crossings into Gaza were reopened. “We are still committed to what we declared and after the end of the 6 months we will sit down and reevaluate this experience,” he told a gathering in Gaza.
In recent weeks, several dozen foreign activists have defied the siege, reaching Gaza by boat to try to draw attention to the misery the blockade has caused Gaza’s 1.4 million people.
— With input from agencies
