debkafile reports: Palestinians launch heavy seven-hour missile-mortar barrage from Gaza following their surprise cross-border attack on Israel Ki

In a serious escalation of Palestinian violence from Gaza, a band of Hamas, Jihad Islami and Fatah-al Aqsa crossed the border in broad daylight Sat., June 9, to kill and kidnap Israeli soldiers, just a year after they abducted Gilead Shalit. They failed.
The assailants, who rammed the border fence in an armored jeep disguised as a TV truck, fired RPGs, automatic guns and hand grenades. Israeli troops, taken by surprise, fought back and killed one of the assailants. The rest escaped across the border. The IDF spokesman denied any Israeli soldiers were hurt or missing as the Palestinians claimed.
Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip were alerted to the threat of infiltrating Palestinian terrorists and told to stay indoors amid continuing sounds of gunfire.
debkafile‘s military sources add: The Palestinian gunmen struck across the Israeli border while a large Israeli contingent, backed by aircraft, tanks and bulldozers, was present in Gaza. The troops were on an anti-terrorist sweep from early Saturday near the old Dahaniyeh airfield. Israel has stepped up its military operations in response to a surge of Palestinian missile attacks on Israeli civilians. Questions are being asked about how the Palestinian infiltrators were able to cross the border and reach the Israeli position unnoticed.
After the Kissufim attack, a Fatah-al Aqsa spokesman declared that it was just the first of a series of cross-border raids against Israeli military and civilian locations