TEL AVIV — After a lull of several weeks, Israel's military has
resumed ground operations in the Gaza Strip.
On Saturday, an Israeli special operations force captured two Hamas
operatives in the southern Gaza Strip. A military statement said the two
detainees were part of a Hamas cell in the "final stages of preparing a
large scale terror attack in the coming days."
"The two were taken for questioning by security forces and are currently
under investigation," the statement said.
Officials said the two detainees were accused of participating in
Palestinian missile fire toward Israel. They said the capture of the
Palestinians and their transfer to Israel were conducted without gunfire.
The Israeli incursion was the first in the southern Gaza Strip since the
withdrawal from the Palestinian Authority in September 2005. On May 30,
Israeli special forces entered the northern Gaza Strip to prevent a
Palestinian missile launch.
Palestinian sources identified the detainees as Mustafa and Omar Muamar,
who live outside the Rafah refugee camp. The sources said Israeli forces
also took the computer from the Muamar house.
Omar was said to be a physician who returned to the Gaza Strip from
Sudan. Over the last 15 years, Sudan has been training Hamas operatives.
On late Saturday, Palestinian gunners fired two Kassam-class,
short-range missiles into Israel. Both fell around the Israeli city of
Sderot. No injuries were reported.