A firefight between some 60 Palestinian Authority terrorists and IDF soldiers at a mosque in northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun ended Friday afternoon with most of the fugitives managing to escape. | “A radio broadcast directive for women to rush to the scene to act as ‘human shields’ for the terrorist cost at least one woman her life and resulted in others being injured.” |
A radio broadcast directive for women to rush to the scene to act as ‘human shields’ for the terrorist cost at least one woman her life and resulted in others being injured.
The roof of the mosque collapsed on the terrorists shortly before dawn, and the IDF said it would investigate a report that one of it bulldozers destroyed a wall of a room adjacent to the mosque. | “News agencies publicized Arab claims that the IDF had bulldozed the mosque itself, which was used as a storage place for weapons and ammunitions.” |
News agencies publicized Arab claims that the IDF had bulldozed the mosque itself, which was used as a storage place for weapons and ammunitions. An IDF spokesman denied the claim and said that all efforts were made not to damage the religious structure. According to the IDF spokesman, the shooting began after the terrorists inside the mosque opened fire at the soldiers. After the 19-hour siege, however, most of the terrorists escaped with the help of a rioting crowd which included many women.
The IDF reported that 34 people, most of them terrorists, have been killed since Wednesday in the IDF anti-terror operation, called ‘Operation Autumn Clouds’, the most intensive military operation carried out in recent years. Dozens were wounded and hundreds were taken for questioning by Friday afternoon. Speaking on Army Radio Friday morning, Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said, “There will be no safe haven for terrorists. These are not girls from a dormitory in the mosque. They are the people firing the rockets. They are the enemy.” |