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Israel raids gaza town of rafah 15 palestinians killed Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aL76DjP9NXIo&refer=top_world_newshttp://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aL76DjP9NXIo&refer=top_world_news
Israel Raids Gaza Town of Rafah; 15 Palestinians Said Killed
May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Israeli troops moved overnight into the Gaza town of Rafah to destroy ``terrorist infrastructure,'' an army statement said. Fifteen Palestinians, nine of them known militants, were killed, Haaretz said, citing the chief of staff.
Tanks and bulldozers, backed by helicopter gun-ships, went into the Rafah refugee camp on the southern border with Egypt, continuing an operation begun yesterday to destroy arms-smuggling tunnels that run into Egyptian territory. It includes cutting a trench to stop tunnel-building, Haaretz said.
Israeli ``forces have been operating since night-time in the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah and along the Israeli-Egyptian border,'' the army spokesman's office said in a statement read by phone. ``The operation is aimed against the terrorist infrastructure and aimed at preventing the terrorist organizations from arming themselves.''
The army cut Rafah off from the rest of the Gaza Strip yesterday at the start of the operation which involves a division of troops brought to the Gaza Strip last week after 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in three separate attacks. Seven of the soldiers died in southern Gaza.
The Islamic Hamas organization, which has claimed responsibility for suicide attacks on Israelis, said one attack on soldiers last week was in retaliation for the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas founder, in March and of Abdel Aziz Rantisi, his successor, in April.
Briefing reporters at the Kissufim crossing into the Gaza Strip, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon said weapons sent from Iran via the Lebanese Shiite Muslim Hezbollah militia were waiting on the Egyptian side of the border, Haaretz said.
``In order to prevent such weapons being brought in, Israel has been forced to take action,'' Haaretz cited Ya'alon as saying.
Ya'alon said Palestinian homes were only destroyed when they concealed tunnels or were used by gunmen to attack troops. If the Palestinians ``want to prevent house demolitions, they must stop the arms smuggling,'' the chief of staff said, according to Haaretz.
During the night, troops fanned out through Tel Sultan, carrying out house-to-house searches, Haaretz said. At least 45 military vehicles were in the area, it said.
A helicopter ``hit a cell of gunmen planting explosive devices to be used against the operating forces,'' the army statement said. ``In another incident, IDF (Israel Defense Forces) fired on another cell of gunmen attempting to launch anti- tank missiles.'' Three abandoned buildings used as cover by gunmen were destroyed, it said.
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