By KUNA
Gaza : Guerrillas of the mainstream Palestinian organization Fatah of President Mahmoud Abbas launched a surprise ground assault on an Israeli military position east of the border town of Rafah.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian organization, Fatah, said in a statement that the fighters burst into the Israeli outpost and engaged the Israeli soldiers in a lengthy firefight. One of the Palestinian fighters was killed during the combat, it said.
Fatah, in a statement released later, said “the winter storm operation was carried out to affirm that the resistance was the sole option for retaliation for Israel’s assassination of Palestinian fighters and massacres.
“In shadow of the continous Israeli genocides against our people .. and Arab and international silence toward these crimes we opted to send a message to our people that the resistance is the option to response to the Israeli masacres and crimes.” It identified the Fatah fighter who was killed in the two-hour firefight as Mahmoud Hassan Al-Daalesah, aged 21. The slain fighter hails from Al-Shatea’ refugee camp west of Gaza city.
Fatah, compared to Islamic Palestinian organizations, have been carrying out limited armed attacks and Abbas has shown that his policy largely titlts in favor of diplomacy, rather than the gun.
A spokesman of the Israeli Army confirmed that the Israeli troops engaged in a clash with the Palestinian gunmen, adding that they shot dead a Palestinian guerrilla close to the demarcation line in the south of Gaza Strip. They also found a bullet-proof vest and a Kalashinkov assault rifle where the fighter had fallen.