JERUSALEM
Israeli army forces killed eight out of 13 Palestinians trying to infiltrate Israel through an underground tunnel linking it to the Gaza Strip, according to reports by Israeli media on Thursday.
Israel's Channel 2 and radio reported that eight out of 13 alleged members of Hamas movement were killed by the Israeli forces while the remaining five members have fled back into Gaza.
Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli army announced its air force has prevented 13 Hamas members in the Gaza Strip from crossing into Israel through an underground tunnel, saying they are members of the Hamas movement who had been planning to stage an attack in Israel.
The Israeli army said, in a statement Thursday, that one of its warplanes attacked the tunnel, which extends from southern Gaza to southern Israel's Sufa district.
The raid came after the Israeli forces identified 13 Hamas members who had attempted to "infiltrate" Israel through the tunnel, the release said.
The Israeli army went on to accuse the alleged Hamas members of having planned to attack an Israeli Kibbutz in Sufa.
Hamas, which remains in de facto control of Gaza since 2007, has yet to comment on the incident.
Since July 7, Israeli warplanes have pounded the Gaza Strip with the ostensible aim of ending Palestinian rocket fire from the besieged coastal enclave.
At least 227 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed so far – and more than 1700 injured, many seriously – in unrelenting aerial attacks by the self-proclaimed Jewish state.
Gaza-based resistance factions, of which Hamas is the most prominent, have continued to fire rockets atIsrael – some of which have reached Tel Aviv – in response to the ongoing airstrikes.
Since Israel's air campaign began last week, oneIsraeli has been killed as a result of rocket fire from Gaza.
The ongoing military operation, dubbed "Operation Protective Edge," is Israel's third major offensive against the embattled Gaza Strip – home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – in the last six years.
www.aa.com.tr/en
