Israel Matzav

Car Swarm Watch

Two high-ranking Aksa Martyrs Brigades operatives were killed Monday night after the car they were driving in was struck by missiles fired from IAF fighter jets in Gaza City. It was the third targeted killing in Gaza in three days.

The dead were identified as 24-year-old Hassan Asfour - a senior Aksa commander from Beit Lahiya and the head of a Kassam rocket cell. The other operative killed was identified as Jabalya resident Rami Hanouna, 28, also involved in the firing of Kassam rockets at Israeli cities.

Outside the morgue where the charred bodies were taken, an Aksa spokesman who called himself Abu Mohammed threatened revenge against Israel. "The Zionists have opened the gates of hell, and this gate cannot be closed until we uproot them from our land," he said. [But Abu, there are no more 'Zionists' in Gaza. So why are you complaining? Don't you know that you're supposed to live in peace and harmony with Israel now under the 'two state solution.' CiJ]

The army confirmed the attack and said the operatives were on their way to launch Kassam rockets when their car was hit. The attack was part of the IDF's "Operation Blue Skies" that began after last week's Kassam rocket attack which severely wounded an infant in Kibbutz Carmiya.

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Paramedics and witnesses said the missile destroyed the car and incinerated the two men inside. Three bystanders were injured in the blast, they said. The targeted vehicle was a yellow minibus traveling on a farm road near Jabalya, the site of several rocket launches into Israel.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:38 PM