Hamas, Fatah-associated clan clash in Gaza, IDF soldier killed in separate incident

Four Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip yesterday evening in a gunbattle between Hamas security forces and members of the Heles clan, a large Gaza clan associated with Fatah. Twenty people were reported wounded in the incident, which saw the Hamas men closing off the al-Shojaiah neighbourhood east of Gaza City. The dead numbered two Hamas members, and two members of the Heles clan. According to a Fatah official interviewed anonymously after the incident, the fighting began when members of the Heles clan resisted Hamas attempts to confiscate a car belonging to one of its members.

Earlier in the day, an IDF soldier, Ben Kubani, 20, from Hadera, was killed during an IDF operation in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. The operation began in the early hours of the morning, and was intended to disrupt terrorist infrastructure in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. IDF forces were fired on by Hamas gunmen, and Staff Sergeant Kubani was killed in one of the exchanges of fire. No other Israeli soldiers were wounded.

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