Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas fired his top Gaza Strip security commanders after Hamas gunners launched a massive shelling attack on Israeli targets across the Strip, Palestinian security officials said late Thursday afternoon.
PA officials said that Abbas dismissed Brigadier General Abdel Razek al-Majaydeh, public security chief for the West Bank and Gaza, national police chief Saeb al-Ajez and Omar Ashour, commander of the security forces in the southern Gaza Strip. Also, several lower-ranking officers lost their jobs.
Hamas military wing, the Izzidin al Qassam Brigades, on Thursday fired mortar shells and Qassam rockets at occupation army outposts and settlements in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli occupation army said 13 mortar shells were fired overnight and four more on Thursday morning. The fire came in retaliation for the killing of at least two Palestinians by Israeli troops.
Earlier, Palestinian resistance leaders warned that the resistance would not stand idle in case of Israeli attacks against Palestinians.
Israeli soloders have killed at least two Palestinian civilians since the Sharm al Sheikh summit conference Tuesday, Palestinian security sources reported. Eyewitnesses said Israeli troops guarding a roadblock north west of Ramallah opened fire on a Palestinian motorist, killing him on the spot.
An Israeli occupation spokesperson sought to justify the killing, charging that the motorist did not stop at the checkpoint.
On Wednesday, Israeli occupation forces shot and killed a Palestinian man from the Rafah refugee camp at the southern edge of the Gaza Strip.
