An Israeli Apache attack helicopter shoots a missile over the Gaza Strip as seen from Israel's border with Gaza
AFP/Gaza
Israel's army announced Saturday the deaths of two of its soldiers in a clash with Gaza militants who had breached the Jewish state's border, hours after they had been reported wounded.
An army statement said the two, Sergeant Adar Bersano, 20, from Nahariya, and Major Amotz Greenberg, 45, from Hod Hasharon, were killed fighting a group of militants who infiltrated Israel through a tunnel from the centre of the Gaza Strip.
The army had earlier said two soldiers were wounded in a clash with the militants, who had been "aiming to carry out a lethal attack in one of the nearby communities".
The militants had fired machineguns and an anti-tank missile at the soldiers, who returned fire, "killing a terrorist and forcing the rest back into Gaza".
Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said 12 of their men stayed "behind enemy lines" for six hours before engaging in "direct confrontation with the enemy to avenge the blood of our martyrs, particularly the children."
The militants claimed they "killed six soldiers on patrol and wounded several others," but the Israeli army said there were only two deaths.
