Sunday, February 21, 2010

DTN News: Israel TODAY February 22, 2010 ~ 5 Hurt As IDF Tank Fires At Palestinians Near Gaza Border

DTN News: Israel TODAY February 22, 2010 ~ 5 Hurt As IDF Tank Fires At Palestinians Near Gaza Border *Source: DTN News / By Haaretz Service (NSI News Source Info) TEL AVIV, Israel - February 22, 2010: Five Palestinians were wounded in Gaza after an Israeli tank reportedly fired at figures advancing toward the Strip's security fence, the Palestinain Ma'an news agency said on Sunday. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) insignia is fixed to the Eitan, the IAF's latest generation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), during a ceremony intoducing it into the 210th UAV squadron on February 21, 2010 at the Tel Nof air base in central Israel. The Eitan, or Heron TP, weighs in at 5,000 kgs and has a 26 meter wingspan. It can carry a heavy payload, is equipped with more advanced technological systems than its predecessors and has a 20-hour high-altitude flying time.
The five Gazans were fired at, according to Ma'an, north of the village of Beit Lahiya, on the northern part of the coastal enclave.
Palestinian medical sources claimed that three Gaza residents were lightly injured and treated on location, while two others were evacuated to a nearby Gaza hospital.
Witnesses told Ma'an that the Israel Defense Forces tank fired at Palestinian workers passing by the former location of settlement bloc Gush Katif in the northern Strip. The IDF Spokesman's office told Army Radio that an IDF tank had indeed fired toward figures who were approaching the border fence in a "suspicious manner," while the Ma'an report added that the IDF had denied any casualties or structural damage.
The incident comes as the latest in a string of recent incidents along Israel's border with the Hamas-ruled Strip, as Ma'an reported on Saturday that an IDF unit opened fire at Palestinian militants, wounding three.
The IDF Spokesperson's Office confirmed that IDF helicopters had opened fire after noting a group of armed Palestinian fighters nearing the Gaza border military base Kissufim.
Palestinian security sources said armored Israeli vehicles at Kissufim had fired shells towards the Gazan south-central border region, following an attack on the base by Palestinian gunmen. The armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, said in a joint statement that their militants clashed with Israeli soldiers in the area.

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