JERUSALEM (AFP-)--The Israeli military said it killed on Saturday a senior Hamas fighter in Gaza City who supervised the firing of long-range rockets.
The military said Amir Mansi was the "leading Hamas authority with regard to the long-range Grad missile launching programme" and commanded a cell in Gaza City that had fired dozens of rockets on southern Israel.
Mansi was spotted by ground forces and killed in an attack that wounded two other fighters in Gaza City, it added in a statement.
A Hamas spokesman confirmed that Mansi was a member of the movement's armed wing but refused to give his rank. Mansi is the son of Yusef Mansi, the minister of telecommunications in the Hamas-run government.
Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Hamas and other Palestinian militants since it launched a massive assault on the Gaza Strip two weeks ago in a bid to halt rocket attacks on southern Israel.
But the conflict has taken a heavy toll on the 1.5 million residents of the impoverished coastal strip, with more than 800 people killed since the offensive was launched on December 27.
Palestinian militants have fired more than 600 rockets during the same period on southern Israel, killing three civilians and a soldier and sending long-range rockets deeper than ever into Israeli territory.
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Publié le 10 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones