Hamas group’s armed wing has published images of who it believes to be members of an Israeli covert operations unit that infiltrated the Gaza Strip on November 11, as per a report by Al Jazeera.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades in its website, posted eight images of the alleged members, including two women and pictures of two vehicles used by the force during the botched operation, the report said.
In a statement, the group called on Palestinians to communicate to them any information they might have regarding the persons but provided no further details on the identities of those pictured.
Israel’s army censor issued a statement shortly afterwards calling on the public and news media not to distribute the photos or information relating to them.
“Hamas is attempting to understand and analyse the incident that occurred in Gaza on November 11 and any information, even if it seems harmless by those who distribute it, can endanger lives and put state security at risk,” the army statement said.
The botched operation being referred to resulted in seven Palestinians, including Nour Baraka, a senior commander of the Qassam Brigades being killed during the same evening of the undercover Israeli raid, according to the report.
The report stated that Israeli forces attacked the Khan Younis area via air to ‘give the unit cover to escape back into Israel using a civilian car’.
One Israeli soldier was also killed during the operation, the army said.
Next day, Palestinian factions shot scores of missiles into Israel, described as an act of ‘unprecedented intensity’.
On November 13, seven more Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes, which had targeted a number of residential and government-owned buildings such as the offices of the al-Aqsa television channel.
The chain of attacks ended on the same day after Egypt brokered a ceasefire. Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s Defence Minister, resigned in protest, which Hamas viewed as a “political victory for Gaza”.
