A senior Israeli special-ops officer and seven militants, including a Hamas commander, were killed during an apparent botched mission inside the Gaza Strip that…
A senior Israeli special-ops officer and seven militants, including a Hamas commander, were killed during an apparent botched mission inside the Gaza Strip that threatened to destroy a precarious ceasefire, according to reports.
Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, personally oversaw the covert mission along with the head of military intelligence, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The IDF said that the Israeli officer killed was a 41-year-old lieutenant colonel and father of three whose name was not released. Another officer was wounded and reported to be in moderate but stable condition.
The incident on Sunday, which the army described as an intelligence-gathering mission that went awry, occurred while “the special force carried out a lengthy operation and encountered a very complex reality,” the IDF said.
“What was revealed tonight is the very tip of operations that are carried out regularly and the purpose of which is to enable Israel’s superiority as it exists today,” it added.
The clashes, which prompted Israeli airstrikes and a salvo of rocket fire from Gaza toward Israel, came just days after Israel and Hamas reached indirect understandings, backed by Qatar and Egypt, to allow cash and fuel into Gaza.
The agreements were meant to be part of a wider effort to alleviate deteriorating conditions in the impoverished territory after 11 years of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade.
It was unclear if the spasm of violence, which appeared to have subsided early Monday, would derail those arrangements.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short a visit to Paris because of the incident, returning to Israel on Monday for consultations with top security officials.
In a tweet after his arrival, Netanyahu praised the slain officer, whose funeral was held Monday, and said “our forces acted courageously.”
He said that “one day, the full tale of his heroism will be told. Israel’s citizens owe him a huge debt.”
On Monday, the officer’s father told local media: “This is a great loss. I hope it will be the final loss for the people of Israel,” according to the Times of Israel.
Last week, Israel allowed Qatar to deliver $15 million in aid to Gaza’s cash-strapped Hamas rulers, who responded by lowering the intensity of the border protest.
On Sunday, Netanyahu defended his decision to allow the Qatari cash to flow into Gaza as a way to avert an “unnecessary war,” maintain quiet for residents of southern Israel and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
With Post Wires
