Israel Confirms Loss Of Three Soldiers To Hamas
By Yadnom Awu/ Asaba
Israeli military authorities today confirmed the loss, in action, of three of its troops in the embattled Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
The development is the first public acknowledgement of armed resistance to its high heel military campaign in Gaza.
The Israeli Defence Force did not give much information beyond saying that the troops died in action following an ambush by the Al Qassam Brigade, the armed wing of the Palestinian group, Hamas.
But other sources said that the troops were killed when their armoured tank was ambushed by elements of the Al Qassam Brigade in the Jabalia part of Gaza.
Other soldiers were also wounded in the attack, and the Brigade confirmed its troops were engaging the Israelis in what it called intense fighting at close range.
Though it did not elaborate, other sources said that the fighting was so intense that efforts by Israeli military helicopters to rescue troops and evacuate the dead and wounded had been hampered by intense gunfire exchanges.
The clashes, the first of its kind in recent times, come as facts emerged of the continuing chaos at the food distribution centres run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, GHF.
The chaos has been typified by the violence at the centres where tens of thousands of starving Gazans have been swooping on in order to get food aid.
The United Nations (UN) and other sources say that at least 75 Palestinians had been killed and 400 others wounded, many severely, by Israeli troops who had allegedly opened fire on the food hunters over the past four days.
The GHF was created by Israel and its main backer, America, to side step the existing humanitarian structure of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, which had been in charge of humanitarian services in Gaza and the occupied West Bank,since the 1950s.
Israel accuses UNRWA of collaborating with Hamas but had yet to publicly show proof as demanded by stakeholders.
The GHF distributes aid at three of its four designated centres, which many critics describe as grossly inadequate.
UNRWA, on its part, has 400 distribution centres , but cannot operate them because of Israeli ban on it.
The UN and other humanitarian agencies have distanced themselves from the GHF, whose head, Jake Woods, resigned his post, sighting what he termed the lack of clarity on the intent of the foundation.
The UNRWA says it has more than 9,000 ,( nine thousand tonnes of food and other aid stuck at the border because Israel barred the trucks carrying them from entering Gaza.
