War games in the Gaza Strip, massacres of Palestinians. Israel fails to install advanced surveillance equipment, discovered by Hamas troops
According to Palestinian sources, an undercover Israeli team was installing an advanced surveillance system when last November 11 had a gun battle with Hamas troops.
Local media reported that the Israeli undercover team killed seven members of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. The Israelis, undercover, then reached Israel with the help of air support, leaving a dead squad member on the ground.
The incident was followed by a barrage of nearly 500 rockets and mortars fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel. The Israelis responded by firing more than 160 missiles that fell across the Palestinian enclave. The hostilities ended on November 13, when Hamas declared a unilateral Egyptian-mediated ceasefire. The incident resulted in the resignation of Israel's Defense Minister, Avigdor Liberman, and could lead to early parliamentary elections in the Jewish state.
The IDF declined to comment on the team's mission, admitting only that its troops "were operating in the Gaza Strip". It is believed that members of the undercover team wore civilian clothes and that at least two of them were disguised as women. After entering Gaza in a civilian Volkswagen vehicle, they drove to Khan Yunis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip near the border with Egypt. Right there they were discovered by the al-Qassam Brigades, who stopped them at a checkpoint.
The Israeli team then killed a Palestinian at the checkpoint by shooting him with a pistol with the silencer on.
The Israelis, after a brief high-speed chase, fled by helicopter after their Palestinian pursuers were all killed by Israeli tanks and planes.
Their abandoned Volkswagen car was then blown up by an Israeli fighter.
Speaking Saturday at a press conference held in Gaza City and broadcast live on Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV, Hamas City's deputy head, Khalil al-Hayya, said the Israeli undercover raid was significant. If successful, al-Hayya said, the IDF would "achieve a major breakthrough in security" by installing a new state-of-the-art surveillance system. Had he been able to "install the surveillance equipment," the undercover team would have given Israel the ability to "kill, hack and kidnap", and would have "probably made it easy for Israel to discover tunnels and other clandestine activities."
Videos broadcast by Al-Aqsa television on Sunday showed the remains of the "surveillance devices" left by the Israelis who fled.
Al-Hayya concluded his statement with a warning, "penetrating the security of the Gaza Strip is not an easy task".