Gaza gunmen hit Israeli helicopter: Hamas militants
GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian militants hit an Israeli helicopter gunship in the northern part of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Friday, a spokesman for the Islamist group's armed wing said.
The Israeli army declined to comment on operational details but Israel's Channel One television said the helicopter suffered some damage and was forced to return to base. There were no casualties among the crew of two, the report added.
"This afternoon our anti-aircraft crew opened fire at an Israeli aircraft over north Gaza, we know that it was hit," said Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades, Hamas's military wing.
Abu Ubaida said Hamas would continue to try to target Israeli aircraft with ever-improving munitions at their disposal.
"This is a message from the Qassam Brigades that we are doing our utmost to confront Zionist planes ... and we will continue to try to hit them with more accurate weapons," he told Reuters.
Israel frequently uses its far superior military power, including fighter jets, helicopter gunships and unmanned aerial vehicles to target militants who launch rockets from the coastal enclave into the Jewish state.
The television report said it was the first known case in which Gaza militants had managed to hit an Israeli aircraft.
Israel has alleged that during a breach of the Gaza border with Egypt in January militants smuggled through more advanced weapons than had been available to them previously. It is not known what type of munitions hit the helicopter.
Hamas also captured more sophisticated weapons in the June takeover when it raided Abbas's headquarters in Gaza.
Hamas blew open Gaza's southern border wall with Egypt to break what they termed an Israeli siege on the territory, home to 1.5 million Palestinians.
Israel said it tightened its cordon on Gaza in January, limiting supplies of fuel and other goods in response to cross-border rocket fire.
It stepped up its blockade in June after Hamas routed Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of secular Fatah which still holds sway in the occupied West Bank.
Gaza Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said on Friday the group hoped to create new conditions for opening the Gaza border with Egypt in Rafah without an influential role for European observers who previously monitored entry and exit in an agreement which also involved Israel.
"We insist that it will be a completely Arab crossing, therefore we call on Egypt and others for a serious dialogue which will extricate us from the agreement which Abu Mazen (Abbas) has been trying to chain us with," Zahar said.
He also repeated Hamas's position that there would be no ceasefire with Israel unless it halted all actions in the West Bank and Gaza, lifted the blockade and reopened crossings.
(Writing by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
