Israeli Forces, Hamas Militants Clash Exchanges of fire between the two sides are the first since their 2014 war…By Rory Jones see note please

Posted By on May 6th, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/israeli-forces-hamas-militants-clash-1462463108

Love the headline….now Hamas terrorists are just militants???  Here is article 15 from the Hamas Charter: “The day the enemies conquer some part of the Muslim land, jihad becomes a personal duty of every Muslim. In the face of the Jewish occupation of Palestine, it is necessary to raise the banner of jihad. This requires the propagation of Islamic consciousness among the masses, locally [in Palestine], in the Arab world and in the Islamic world. It is necessary to instill the spirit of jihad in the nation, engage the enemies and join the ranks of the jihad fighters.” rsk

TEL AVIV—Israeli forces and Hamas fighters traded direct fire for the first time since the two sides went to war in 2014, Israel’s military said Thursday, as tensions escalated along Israel’s border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

Israeli jet fighters carried out airstrikes against Hamas targets Thursday morning in response to 10 exchanges of fire with Israeli soldiers in the past three days, said Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner.

Hamas continued to fire mortar shells at Israeli forces until late afternoon, the military said. But no further exchanges were reported in the evening.

The tensions were compounded by what Israel said was its discovery earlier Thursday of a Hamas tunnel extending into Israeli territory from Gaza.

Hamas began firing in response to Israel’s efforts to locate the tunnel on the Gaza border, Col. Lerner said, and a search for other tunnels was continuing.

“Tunnels that have been built on the border between Gaza and Israel are for infiltration,” he said. “We aren’t willing to have tunnels leading into Israel.”

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior leader of the Islamist movement, blamed Israel for the latest outbreak of violence, saying Hamas fighters had fired on Israeli soldiers only after Israel made moves to reduce the width of an unofficial buffer zone that divides Gaza from Israel.

Palestinian media reported that Israeli airstrikes largely hit open, unpopulated areas. A Palestinian women was hit by shrapnel from an airstrike and died from her injuries, Hamas’s semiofficial Safa news agency reported.

Mr. Marzouk said Egyptian officials were mediating between Israel and Hamas to try to restore the open-ended cease-fire that ended the nearly seven weeks of fighting in 2014.

The Israeli military spokesman denied Egypt was undertaking mediation efforts. He said Israel had no desire for full-scale fighting with Hamas. CONTINUE AT SITE

 

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