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Israeli tanks roll into Gaza
28/06/2006 07:27 - (SA)
Gaza - Israeli tanks and troops rolled
into the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday after
mediators said hope of recovering kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit through
talks, was running out.
The incursion came shortly after Palestinian security forces
deployed near the Gazan border town of Rafah said they were
ordered out by the Israeli military.
The Israeli army confirmed its forces had crossed the border, the first major ground offensive in Gaza since the Jewish state withdrew last year after 38 years of occupation.
Meanwhile a Palestinian militant group which
said it had abducted a Jewish settler in the West Bank
threatened on Wednesday to kill him in response to Israel's
armoured incursion.
Israeli security forces have not confirmed the Popular
Resistance Committee's (PRC) kidnapping claim, issued on Monday,
but said they were investigating the disappearance of an
18-year-old settler, Eliahu Asheri, from the settlement of
Itamar.
"We will kill the kidnapped settler who is in our hands if
the aggression does not stop," PRC spokesperson Abu Abir told
Reuters. "Our patience is running out." Israeli security sources said on Tuesday that a body had
been discovered outside Ramallah, a Palestinian-ruled city in
the West Bank. A probe was under way to determine whether it was Asheri's.
- Reuters
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