Palestinian militants exchange fire with Israeli army at border area

An Islamic Jihad (Holy War) spokesman said that three of the four Palestinian assailants who attacked Kissufim crossing in southeast Gaza on Saturday have returned back to Gaza while the fourth remained exchanging fire with Israeli soldiers.

When receiving an interview with a local radio, spokesman Abu Ahmed said that the fourth left behind was holding an Israeli soldier and trying to bring him to Gaza.

However, Israeli military failed to confirm that one Israeli soldier was in the hand of the Palestinian attacker.

A military spokesman told Xinhua that four to five Palestinian militants attacked the crossing on Saturday and that the gunbattle between the militants and Israeli soldiers was still ongoing.

Earlier, Palestinian witness said that four militants in a camouflaged jeep stormed the gates of the Israeli-run Kissufim commercial crossing east of Deir al-Balah town in central Gaza Strip at noon.

They said that the militants engaged in fierce fire exchange with the Israeli soldiers, as heavy machine gunfire was heard.

Abu Ahmed said earlier that a complicated suicide operation was taking place at the crossing point.

"The gates were stormed by an armored jeep loaded with lots of explosives," he told reporters in Gaza.

"Tens of mortar shells were fired into the area to enable two Islamic Jihad militants and two Fatah fighters to enter the crossing," he added.

Earlier in the day, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, said in a statement that they rejected to offer a free truce to the Israeli occupation.

Source: Xinhua