Al-Qassam Brigades captures two Israeli soldiers east of Gaza city

[ 04/01/2009 - 05:10 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, successfully captured at a late hour Saturday two invading Israeli occupation soldiers in the area of Jabal Al-Rais, east of Gaza city, where they were transferred to a safe place away from the battlefield, media reports said.

For their part, Israeli sources said that the Israeli military command lost contact with one of its soldiers.

The capture of the two Israel soldiers happened when Qassam fighters ambushed an invading special Israeli force east of Gaza and detonated an anti-personnel explosive device at them which inflicted a number of casualties in their ranks.

Qassam spokesman Abu Obaida stated that the Brigades would not give any free information to the Israeli occupation on the capture of the soldiers, adding that the Palestinian people and the world will hear surprises in the coming hours.

Abu Obaida noted that the number of invading Israeli occupation soldiers killed is more than the number of Qassam martyrs.

The spokesman underlined that the Israeli occupation was "foolish" when it decided to carry out its incursion in the Gaza Strip because the Palestinian resistance was getting prepared for years to confront it, pointing out the IOF troops are confused, invade empty areas, try to stay away from the resistance attacks and shell civilian houses from a distance.

Hamas political leader Khaled Mesha'al had warned Israel before the incursion that any folly to invade Gaza would make its troops face a dark fate and join their mate Gilad Shalit who already fell in the hands of the Palestinian resistance.

Al-Qassam: Our fighters inflicted heavy casualties in the ranks of IOF troops [ 04/01/2009 - 11:23 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said that its fighters inflicted heavy casualties on the invading IOF troops in the east and north of the Gaza Strip, affirming that it managed to kill more than five Israeli soldiers and wound about 30 others.

According to reports published by the Israeli media, which are subject to military censorship on the publication of any information about the number of soldiers killed or wounded, the Israeli soldiers who were injured were from the infantry, artillery, armored brigades and the engineering corps.

In a communiqué received by the PIC, the Qassam Brigades stated that its fighters detonated anti-personnel explosive devices in an Israeli special force near the Beit Hanoon crossing and an Israeli tank.

The communiqué added that the Qassam fighters also managed to detonate other explosive devices in different special units in Al-Zaytoon suburb, east of Gaza city, and in the Atatra area, northwest of Beit Lahiya.

According to the communiqué, the Qassam fighters were able to penetrate the radio waves of the IOF troops and heard Israeli soldiers as they were screaming in pain and talking about the death of five soldiers in their ranks.

A Palestinian field commander affiliated with the Qassam Brigades revealed that the armed wing of Hamas uses in the confrontations with the IOF troops new methods and tactics which cannot be penetrated or discovered by the invading Israeli forces.

The field commander pointed out that Qassam rocket firing units operate cautiously and skillfully and no one is able to know the places from which rockets are fired.

"We continue our mission normally and we are not affected by these raids because we have taken all precautions for such an operation and a larger one as well. We have the ability to operate in this way for a long time," the commander underscored.

In the same context, Palestinian eyewitnesses have reported that ferocious confrontations were raging between Qassam fighters and the invading IOF troops who advanced from the eastern side of Zaytoon district, east of Gaza city.

According to the eyewitnesses, the IOF troops failed to advance several meters because of the intensity of the confrontations they faced in the area despite the heavy aerial reconnaissance.

The Palestinian resistance managed to fire a homemade rockets at dawn Sunday on the Israeli Eshkol settlement built inside the 1948 occupied lands despite the intensive Israeli over flights and the ground military operation against Gaza.

The resistance also fired Saturday evening other homemade rockets on the Sha'er Hanegev settlement in the western Negev.

According to the Israeli media, a Palestinian rocket landed on a crowd of Israeli soldiers in the Sderot settlement and six others fell on the Eshkol settlement on the same day.

In a communiqué received by the PIC,  the Qassam Brigades announced that it fired 41 rockets and mortar shells on different Israeli settlements and posts on Saturday, the eighth day of the aggression on Gaza.

Hamas leader Mushir Al-Masri stated that the Palestinian resistance spearheaded by the Qassam Brigades pursues special tactics and move steadily in their confrontations with the invading IOF troops.

Five Israeli soldiers killed, about 29 wounded in clashes with the resistance

[ 04/01/2009 - 03:53 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas said on Saturday night that at least 5 Israeli soldiers were killed an 29 others wounded during an IOF incursion into the Zaitoun neighbourhood of Gaza.

The Qassam Brigades said that they managed to tap into the IOF communications and hear them report the death of five soldiers.

Israeli occupation sources admitted that five IOF soldiers were killed and 29 others were wounded.

Local eyewitnesses said that a fierce confrontation between the Qassam Brigades fighters and the invading IOF troops took place at the Zaitoon neighbourhood to the east of Gaza City.

Al-Quds Brigades clash with Israeli tank in northern Gaza; several attacks reported

Date: 04 / 01 / 2009  Time:  17:14
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades launched a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) at an Israeli tank next to the Al-Ja’al fuel station east of Gaza City.

In an earlier clash in the Al-Zaytoon area the Brigades said four activists were injured.

The Brigades statement said the attack was to assure the invading Israeli occupation forces that Gazans would not stand aside as their people are massacred by the Israeli occupation terrorist army.

Earlier in the day Islamic Jihad’s military wing the Al-Quds Brigades said their fighters detonated an explosive near an Israeli tank in the Zaytoon neighborhood of Gaza City. They said the tank was completely destroyed and its ruins aflame. They said the soldiers in the tank were either dead or seriously injured.

The Brigades said they fired at least one projectile at an Israeli target and clashed with Israeli troops in the northern Strip.

The military wing affiliated to the Popular Resistance Committees, the Al-Nasser Salahuddin Brigades said they fired two projectiles at Kfar Azza where they said two Israeli soldiers were injured.

Spokesperson of the brigades Abu Mujahed said “the resistance fighters are causing injuries among the Israeli soldiers during the clashes but they [the Israelis] do not admit their losses."

***Updated 17:19 Bethlehem time

Two Israeli occupation soldiers killed, at least 36 others injured as Palestinian fighters resist invasion

Date: 04 / 01 / 2009  Time:  15:58
Bethlehem/Gaza - Ma’an -

Two Israeli occupation soldiers are said to be dead after suffering critical injuries Saturday night as troops began a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Earlier reports from Israel of two critically injured soldiers moved to Israeli hospitals at Soroka, Barzilai and Tal Hashomar with 28 other injured Israelis seem to corroborate the story.

According to an Israeli military spokesperson Sunday evening one soldier was killed by a mortar shell in Beit Lahiya and another seriously wounded in Jabaliya

According to an Al-Arabiya reporter four more Israeli occupation soldiers were injured near Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. The reporter said one soldier was critically injured.

Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV reported fighters kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, but later Hamas officials refused to confirm or deny the report.

***Updated 17:40 Bethlehem time