Israeli undercover troops disguised as Arab women shot and seriously wounded two Palestinian robbers they mistook for armed fugitives Saturday.
Three soldiers dressed in traditional Arab robes were cruising in a car in downtown Gaza City when they spotted five Palestinians outside an electronics store, one holding what looked like a gun, Arab reporters said.The robbers sped away in two cars, chased by the soldiers, who shot at one of the cars. Two passengers were wounded and a third arrested, the Arab reports said.
The army confirmed the incident and that the Palestinians' guns were fake. It said in a statement that the wounded men, who were evacuated by helicopter to Israeli hospitals, were involved in a robbery minutes before they were shot.
In the Jebaliya refugee camp near Gaza City, about 1,000 followers of the Muslim militant group Islamic Jihad held a rally to commemorate a member killed earlier this week in a failed car bomb attack on an army patrol.
In front of the crowd, the dead man's preteen son rode on a white horse that trampled on an Israeli flag. In one hand, the child held a submachine gun.