Elite commando unit was interrogated by Hamas for 40 minutes
The commandos that were involved in last month's botched special forces mission in Gaza were interrogated for 40 minutes by Hamas before the gunfight erupted,
Channel 2 reported.
The soldiers were stopped while driving in Gaza by Hamas militants, who decided to detain them after finding inconsistencies in their story. The undercover operatives them opened fire in order not to be taken into custody and fled while being pursued by several patrol vehicles manned by Hamas militants.
The IDF dispatched several unmanned aircraft which opened fire on the Hamas militants pursuing the Israeli agents.
During the pursuit, one of the Israeli vehicles struck a wall, forcing the team members to continue on foot. An IDF helicopter later managed to land inside the Gaza Strip and evacuate the team.
The report also said that the troops had entered Gaza two months earlier and were installing highly advanced surveillance gear inside Gaza, including attempts to tap Hamas' communications network.
A 41-year-old Israeli lieutenant colonel, identified solely by the initial “M”, was killed in a pitched battle with Hamas militants deep inside the Gaza Strip, near the city of Khan Yunis.
Hamas has been intensively investigating last week's events and has called on the public to supply any information that might help them expose more details about the highly classified unit. Hamas says that it managed to salvage classified equipment the commandos had been carrying in their car despite the vehicle having been bombed by the IDF.
Earlier this week, Hamas claimed that the classified unit was living in Gaza in a safe house under the guise of humanitarian volunteers. The team’s equipment was smuggled into the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave through the Kerem Shalom crossing, where it was picked up by an agent working for Israel inside the Strip. The agent is also said to have secured two cars for the Israeli special forces team
Transcripts of Hamas' radio chatter during the operation that were released by
Hadashot last month showed that the group originally thought it was battling drug smugglers during the shootout with the commandos. Only after IDF drones started strafing Hamas militants did the organization realize it was a commando op gone awry.
“Four fighter jets are above me. There was a strike near us. The jets are coming from the north. They attacked one of the (Hamas) cars. Hide. Close in on the Jews. Don’t let them leave Gaza," one Hamas commander yelled into the radio during the firefight
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http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/255810
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They were stopped in their car, during which they were questioned by the Hamas field commander killed and two other members of the armed wing who were not armed at that time. So they opened fire on the three killing them then tried escaping. During that attempt to escape Israeli air strikes killed another three Hamas members who clashed with the group. An Israeli soldier was killed in the process. Another Palestinian soldier from another group was killed in an air strike as well.
PA controls the border crossings(Egypt demanded this in order to open Rafah crossing), so PA was not able to interrogate them at the border because they simply didn't suspect that or are incompetent when it comes to these matters.