As Operation Autumn Clouds entered its third day, troops surrounded a mosque in Beit Hanun early Friday and exchanged fire with dozens of gunmen who had holed up inside. Palestinian witnesses reported that IDF bulldozers tore down one of the walls of the mosque, located in the center of the northeast Gaza Strip town, and that soldiers then used tear gas and fired stun grenades in order to force the suspects out. Reports indicated that about 60 people were inside the mosque. There were no reports of casualties among the troops. Earlier Friday, three Palestinians were killed when the IAF fired missiles at two Kassam rocket teams in the northern Gaza Strip. Despite the intensified IDF action, seven Kassam rockets landed in the western Negev and south of Ashkelon Thursday. Most of them landed in open areas, but one slammed into a Sderot home, spraying shrapnel and starting a fire. One man was lightly wounded by flying glass in the center of Sderot, and a woman was lightly wounded, also by shrapnel, in the western Negev. Four other people were suffering from shock.
The Sderot parents association declared a boycott Thursday morning, saying the town's schools were not safe from the Kassams, Army Radio reported. Later, the IDF Home Front Command ordered schools closed in frontline communities. Lessons will only be permitted reinforced classrooms to withstand mortar and rocket attack.
A senior officer in the Southern Command said soldiers had reported 20 gunmen killed since Operation Autumn Clouds was launched. The officer said troops were moving at will from building to building, arresting terrorist suspects and seizing weapons caches, including several antitank missiles and night vision equipment. He said the operation would continue until its objectives were achieved.
IAF helicopter gunships fired missiles at a group of 10 armed Palestinians early Thursday morning, the army said. Palestinian Authority officials said two gunmen and a 75-year-old man were killed in the incident. Palestinian sources said more than 35 people were wounded in the fighting, 15 of them when an IDF tank shell hit a building. 15 men between the ages of 16 and 40 were rounded up for questioning, the IDF said. IAF helicopters also destroyed a Kassam rocket launcher ready for use, the army said. Two soldiers wounded by shrapnel were evacuated under fire to the Barzilai Medical Center.