A Palestinian resistance fighter of the aL-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas in Gaza, has been reportedly killed by the Israeli army early on Friday morning.
Media sources reported that an Israeli army special force clashed with a group of fighters near the Kussofim military post to the east of aL-Qarrara village in southern Gaza Strip.
Dr. Moawiya Hasanin, chief of emergency department at the Gaza’s health ministry, confirmed the death of Belal aL-Astal, 23, and injury of two others at the Naser hospital of Khan Younis, to the south of Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Jaysh aL-Oma (Army of Nation), a newly-emerged group, announced today morning that its fighters shot and wounded three Israeli soldiers near the said Kussofim military post.
In a statement, faxed to press, the Army of Islam said the attack on soldiers came in response to Dutch drawings that harm the prophet Mohammad of Islam as well as the ‘crimes’, Muslims have been exposed to in the holy city of Jerusalem.
Recently, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has vowed to further strike the ruling Hamas in Gaza, despite latest talk on a ceasefire between Palestinian resistance groups and Israel.
Early on March, the Israeli army killed more than 120 Palestinians including 40 children, within a large Israeli army ground offensive on the northern parts of Gaza.
