A Hamas terrorist involved in the capture of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit was killed Thursday in an IAF strike in southern Gaza, the IDF said. Hamas said the strike targeted a car carrying three of its members. It said the first missile missed the vehicle, and one of the terrorists escaped unharmed. Another man was reported wounded by the group. Palestinian health officials said one man was killed, while a second man and a woman passerby were slightly wounded. Islamic Jihad initially misidentified the dead man as one of its members because of confusion with names.
The IDF confirmed that its target, Nafez Mansur, was hit in an air strike in the Rafah area. The army stated that as well as the June 2006 cross-border raid in which Schalit was captured, Manzur was also a member of the terror cell that executed the suicide bombing attack at the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Passover. He was also involved in planning numerous attacks by Hamas and in firing rockets at Israel, continued the army.