World Tribune.com

Israel withdraws from Gaza, Hamas claims victory

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, July 10, 2006

GAZA CITY — The ruling Hamas movement has claimed victory as Israel withdrew troops from much of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas asserted that it drove Israeli troops out of the northern Gaza Strip during heavy fighting over the weekend. The group, which employed anti-tank weapons and semi-automatic fire, pledged to resume missile and other strikes against the Jewish state.

"We have defeated the Israeli army," a masked operative told the Saturday news conference in Bet Lahiya.

[On Sunday, Palestinian sources said Israeli main battle tanks crossed into the northern Gaza Strip and were positioned in a former Jewish community. The Israeli military denied the report.]

Hamas presented Israel Army-issued identification cards that were said to belong to troops who fought in northern Gaza. The Palestinian group did not elaborate.

Over the weekend, Israel withdrew troops from the northern Gaza Strip. This included Bet Lahiya, Bet Hanoun as well as the former Israeli communities along the Mediterranean coast.

The Israel Air Force and Artillery Corps, however, continued strikes on suspected Palestinian targets. On Saturday, the air force bombed a suspected Hamas weapons tunnel while artillery units fired toward suspected missile launching pads in northern and southern Gaza.

Palestinian gunners intensified missile fire amid the Israeli invasion, entitled Operation Summer Rain, in which more than 40 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed. On July 7, 16 Kassam-class, short-range missiles were fired into Israel.

Israeli officials acknowledged that the military strike did not help win the release of a soldier abducted by Hamas on June 25. They said the military could be ordered to return to the Gaza Strip on short notice.

"It is important to stress that if the terrorists do not return the Kassams to their warehouses, and if they do not return [abducted soldier] Gilad Shalit, we will operate until he is returned and until the abilities of the terror organizations are seriously damaged," Defense Minister Amir Peretz said.


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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