Deadly clash erupts during Israel operation in Gaza

GAZA CITY: An exchange of fire erupted during an Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, killing six Palestinians and an Israeli soldier, officials said, while potentially dashing hopes that a recent agreement would restore calm.

As tensions rose following the clash, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he would cut short his trip to Paris, where he had been attending World War I commemorations, and return home.

Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, the movement that runs the blockaded Gaza Strip, denounced a “cowardly Israeli attack”.

Palestinian security sources said the clash included Israeli air strikes.

After the clash erupted, “17 launches were identified from the Gaza Strip at Israel”, the army said, with three projectiles intercepted by Israeli missile defences. It was not immediately clear where the others had landed.

Details were still emerging of the incident that Palestinian officials said occurred east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Gaza’s health ministry said six Palestinians were killed.

The dead included a local commander for Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the brigades said in a statement. He was identified as Nour Baraka.

Israel’s army confirmed one soldier was killed and another injured.

Hamas’s armed wing alleged in a statement that an Israeli special forces team infiltrated near Khan Yunis in a civilian car. Israel’s military had not confirmed those details nor described what type of operation it carried out.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman held security consultations at military headquarters on Sunday and Monday, his office said.

The clash comes after months of deadly unrest along the Gaza-Israel border had appeared to be calming.