A Palestinian worker shouts slogans during a May Day rally in front of the United Nations headquarters in Gaza May 1, 2008 (REUTERS)
JERUSALEM (AP) – An Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday killed a Hamas militant involved in the capture of an Israeli soldier, the Israeli military said.
There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. In June 2006, militants from Hamas and two allied factions tunneled under the Israeli border, killed two soldiers at a border post and captured a third, Cpl. Gilad Schalit.
Schalit remains in captivity in the Gaza Strip as talks have stalled on swapping him for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The military did not say in what capacity Nafez Manzur was involved in Schalit’s capture. It said Manzur was also involved in other attacks, including the suicide bombing at an Israeli crossing into Gaza two weeks ago. Thirteen soldiers were wounded in that assault.
Israeli soldiers stand still as a siren marking the annual Holocaust remembrance day sounds at an army base near the southern Israeli Kibbutz of Shomriya, May 1, 2008 (AP)
Palestinians inspect the site where Nafiz Mansur, 40, was killed by an Israeli air strike on May 01, 2008 in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah (AFP)