Five troops wounded during Gaza op.

IDF forces hit by anti-tank missiles; PM orders Barak to up responses to Palestinian "escalation."

By JPOST.COM STAFF, AP
armored carrier gaza 298 (photo credit: AP)
armored carrier gaza 298
(photo credit: AP)
An IDF soldier operating in the central Gaza Strip was moderately wounded and four others lightly wounded on Sunday when they came under fire by Palestinian gunmen in two separate incidents. According to reports, the troops were wounded after the gunmen fired anti-tank missiles in their direction. The troops were evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba by helicopter. Also on Sunday, A Kassam rocket and two mortar shells landed in the western Negev on Sunday evening, Israel Radio reported. No one was wounded and no damage was reported in the incident. Earlier, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the Katyusha rocket which struck northern Ashkelon on Thursday an "escalation" in terror activities from the Gaza Strip. "We will continue to respond, to plan, and to attack those responsible for terror in every corner of the Gaza Strip," he told ministers during the weekly Cabinet meeting, adding that Defense Minister Ehud Barak had been instructed to intensify the Israeli military response to rocket attacks. Military sources told Yediot Ahronot on Sunday that the Katyusha rocket was manufactured in Iran. Also on Sunday, an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip killed a member of the Popular Resistance Committees, a terror group allied with Hamas, Palestinian officials said. The strike came hours after the group said it fired a barrage of rockets into Israel. The IDF said the aircraft fired at two armed men in the area from which rockets had been fired earlier and one of the men was seen to be hit. On Saturday, Gaza terrorists fired 26 mortar shells and seven rockets into Israel, the military said. The PRC claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. Saturday overnight, a Palestinian gunman was killed and four were wounded when they were shot by IDF troops in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinians reported. The army said that soldiers shot two armed Palestinians who had approached the security fence.