- (AFP) -- Mohammad Deif, a military leader of the Islamic
radical group Hamas who tops Israel's wanted list, escaped a Gaza City
assassination bid with only moderate injuries, an Israeli cabinet minister
told army radio.
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- "The information I have been getting from our services
shows he has been injured but that his life is not in danger," said
Sports Minister Matan Vilnai, who is a member of Israel's security cabinet.
-
- A few hours after Thursday's helicopter attack, Israeli
security services had said they were 99 percent sure the senior leader
of the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades had been killed in the raid which left
two other Palestinians dead.
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- Vilnai told the radio that Deif had survived the missile
attack because Israel had not used powerful enough weapons, for fear of
causing too many civilian casualties.
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- "Means which would undoubtedly have killed him,
together with dozens of other people, could have been used," he said.
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- Vilnai's announcement confirmed strong denials from the
Hamas military wing of their leader's death.
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- Two rank-and-file Hamas militants -- Abdelrahim Hamdan,
40, and Issa Ajarem, 35 -- were killed instead, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades
said Thursday.
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- Another 25 Palestinians, including 10 children, were
also wounded in the missile strike on Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood.
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- In July, the Israeli air force sparked a wave of international
criticism when it killed 15 civilians as well as the then head of the Ezzedine
al-Qassam Brigades, Salah Shehade, and his bodyguard, in a strike on a
densely populated neighbourhood of Gaza City.
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