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A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 13 december 2018
Palestinians offer new details of Israel’s botched Gaza raid

By FARES AKRAM takeover. they posed as aid workers, “That was the major reason and saw a Palestinian gun-
MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH Sending an undercover pretending to move dis- for the suspicions,” he said. man firing a pistol at a ve-
Associated Press unit into Gaza would be abled people to hospitals Under further questioning, hicle whose occupants
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) complicated and risky. in a van. The team had a the team told Hamas that were shooting weapons
— The small town of Abas- With Gaza fenced off, wheelchair, along with a they were going to visit a equipped with silencers. Af-
san in the Gaza Strip is a ter the shooting subsided,
tough place to infiltrate — he went outside, where he
everyone knows everyone saw a gunman frantically
else and outsiders passing shouting: “They shot Sheikh
through quickly attract at- Nour.” He said the body
tention. So when strangers was lying on the ground.
drove through town, suspi- Hamas and other militant
cious Hamas security men groups retaliated with rock-
stopped the van and ques- et and missile fire, leading
tioned those inside. to the heaviest fighting with
The answers didn’t add up. Israel since a 2014 war. On
With their covers about to the brink of war, the sides
be blown, the Israeli un- agreed to a cease-fire on
dercover forces inside the Nov. 13.
vehicle opened fire, setting Israeli undercover units
off a fierce battle that left have been operating in
eight people dead and the Palestinian areas since
triggered a brief but in- the 1980s — and currently
tense round of cross-border have gained renewed at-
fighting. tention with the Netflix hit
A month after the ex- show “Fauda.”
change, the raid remains Samuel M. Katz, author of
clouded in mystery. The Is- “The Ghost Warriors,” a
raeli army has kept mum, In this Monday, Nov. 12, 2018 file photo, Palestinians inspect a vehicle that was destroyed in an book about Israeli under-
while Hamas officials have Israeli raid that killed seven Hamas Palestinian militants, including a local Hamas commander, cover units during the sec-
declined to comment pub- late Sunday, east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. ond Palestinian uprising,
licly as they investigate the Associated Press said he had no knowledge
incident. With each side of this raid, but that it ap-
protective of its secrets, the border area is closely member disguised as a dis- woman who does not live pears to have been an in-
and possibly keen to spread watched by Hamas. Only abled woman. They visited in the area. telligence-gathering team,
disinformation, the full story a handful of crossings op- many houses and even Hamas security men asked not a hit squad.
may never be known. erate. Parachuting in or rented an apartment in them to wait while their Katz said that if Israel want-
But based on interviews bursting through the border Gaza City, he said. commander, Nour Baraka, ed to assassinate a wanted
with Hamas officials, a pic- would almost certainly be There are differing ac- was summoned. Accord- militant, it has less risky alter-
ture is emerging of a care- detected. counts on how long the ing to various accounts, natives like airstrikes. “One
fully planned Israeli intelli- Hamas officials believe the team operated, from sever- the situation deteriorated thing you can say at this
gence operation in which Israeli team was disguised al hours to two weeks. One when Baraka arrived and point, it must have been a
agents posing as Palestin- as aid workers and entered official said it appeared to began asking more ques- high-value target or a high-
ian aid workers may have Gaza through the Israeli- have been a reconnais- tions. When Baraka or- value mission,” he said.
gone undetected for up to controlled Erez crossing, a sance mission to “breach dered their detention for The Israeli military has said
two weeks before it went fortress-like facility through the communications net- further questioning, the Is- little about the raid and has
awry. All officials spoke on which all civilian traffic work of the resistance.” raeli team opened fire and refused to confirm foreign
condition of anonymity, cit- passes. According to some of the killed him. As the team fled, and Palestinian reports that
ing a Hamas gag order. On the Gaza side of the accounts, the scheme Hamas security men fired the officer who was killed
In the meantime, Hamas crossing, the team passed began to unravel when back, apparently killing the was Druze. But a military
has tightened security in through two checkpoints the team made its way to Israeli commander. official, speaking on con-
Gaza and is questioning for- — one controlled by the Abassan. Suspicious resi- Hamas officials say the dition of anonymity under
eign visitors such as journal- Palestinian Authority and dents alerted Hamas se- team was over 2 kilometers military protocol, said it was
ists and aid workers; it has the second controlled by curity, which stopped their (over 1 mile) from the Israeli neither the first nor the last
also sentenced six alleged Hamas — using forged IDs van. border, and Israeli military mission behind enemy lines.
collaborators to death. with the names of well- One official said the leader aircraft, including two he- “The IDF will continue to
“We take security measures known local Palestinian of the Israeli group, report- licopters and a warplane, conduct special opera-
after any security incident families. Hamas has re- edly a member of Israel’s carried out over 40 airstrikes tions wherever necessary
to ensure it doesn’t happen leased a number of im- Arab Druze minority, spoke to give the men cover to to ensure the safety of Is-
again,” said Iyad al-Bozum, ages of people it says were the local dialect fluently flee. raeli civilians,” he said.q
spokesman for Hamas’ In- squad members. In Israel, and remained calm. An airstrike destroyed the
terior Ministry, which is lead- the military censor barred But several things did not Israeli van, apparently to
ing the investigation. publication of the photos, appear right. He said a get rid of incriminating evi-
Israel and Hamas are bitter forcing local media to blur woman was sitting be- dence. Six more militants
enemies that have fought the images. tween two men, even died in the fighting.
three wars since the Is- The Associated Press spoke though their IDs showed Mohammed Abu Daqqa,
lamic militant group seized to eight Hamas figures, in- them to be members of dif- a resident of the area, said
control of Gaza in 2007 cluding some security offi- ferent families. Under local he was at home about 8:45
from the rival Palestinian cials. customs, it is frowned upon p.m. on Nov. 11 when he
Authority. Israel and Egypt It remains unclear what for a woman to sit along- heard the sound of break-
have blockaded Gaza by the Israeli team did inside side men who are not her ing glass outside.
air, land and sea since the Gaza. One official said relatives. He opened his window