Major Israeli operations occurred in the Gaza Strip in the night hours of Sunday during which Palestinian medical sources say at least 6 people have been killed in what was a daring Israeli elite forces raid that breached about 3 kilometers into Palestinian territory.

Palestinian officials confirmed an Israeli special forces raid on a group of Hamas commanders in the city of Khan Younis, which the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) say killed suspected Hamas terrorists, including a senior commander in its military wing.

Israeli media sources uploaded a military video of the brazen raid into Gaza:

Hamas sources say the group returned fire upon Israeli soldiers, resulting in unconfirmed reports circulating that one IDF soldier was either nabbed or killed.

Responding to the early reports, the IDF denied that one of its soldiers had either been killed or captured.

Hamas meanwhile acknowledged that a top Qassam Brigades commander, Nour Baraka, was killed by Israeli special forces who entered the area by driving what it described as a “civilian vehicle”.

Gaza's Interior Ministry reported at least one other Hamas commander killed in the shootout which began when the Israeli commandos ambushed the Hamas location in a drive-by shooting.

The Israeli military confirmed that “an exchange of fire broke out during security activities by the IDF in the Gaza Strip region,” but did not elaborate further. Israeli warplanes and drones began striking the Gaza during the raid.

Amazingly, after the shootout the Israeli special forces team managed to escape across the border fence as aircraft laid down cover fire, according to the Times of Israel.

During the exchange of gunfire communities in southern Israel reported up to multiple rockets fired out of Gaza - one which hit an open field - and claimed further "interceptions by the Iron Dome," according to an Israeli spokesperson.

Meanwhile the IDF spokesman took the unusual step of stating "contrary to reports, none of our soldiers were abducted during the operational activity that took place in Gaza" but refused to comment on further claims of casualties circulating after the raid.

Currently, the region is on edge as some citizens in southern Israel told Haaretz the exchange of fire “sounded almost like a war.” Multiple rocket sirens were triggered in southern Israel — likely, sporadic fighting will continue to escalate in the aftermath of Sunday nights clashes.</s>Israel‘s army is warning of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip after a Hamas commander allegedly was killed in a Gaza raid that also left one Israeli officer dead.

READ MORE: Israel allegedly kills Hamas commander, 5 others in planned Gaza raid

IDF tweeted Sunday that an IDF officer was killed and an additional IDF officer was “moderately injured” after fire broke out in a special forces’ “operational activity.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cut his trip to Paris for World War I commemorations short to return to Israel after the violence erupted along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, a spokesperson said.

At least seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, medics and sources within the enclave’s dominant Hamas group said. Four of them were militants, including Hamas commander Nour Baraka, according to Hamas. It was unclear if the other fatalities included gunmen.

Hamas said the incident began when assailants in a passing car opened fire on a group of its armed men, killing one of its commanders. Hamas gunmen gave chase as the car sped back towards the border with Israel, Hamas said in a statement.

During the pursuit, Israeli aircraft fired more than 40 missiles

The Israeli military said in a statement that: “During an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Special Forces operational activity in the Gaza Strip, an exchange of fire evolved.”

The military also said its defenses intercepted two missile launches from the Gaza Strip. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage on the Israeli side of the frontier.

IDF has sent eight identical “Rocket Alerts” on Twitter for the area of Eshkol near the Gaza Strip with a population of 13,600. The alerts say “sirens sounded in the Eshkol Regional Council. Details to follow.”

-More to come</s>JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says an officer was killed and another was moderately wounded during an operation in southeast Gaza Strip, involving an exchange of gunfire.

The early Monday statement followed a rare late-night burst of violence in which seven Palestinians were also killed. The flare-up came as Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers had appeared to be making progress toward ratcheting down months of border violence.

Israel's military later said the operation had ended.

Earlier, Hamas' armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said Israeli undercover forces in a civilian vehicle infiltrated 3 kilometers, about 2 miles, into Gaza on Sunday and fatally shot Nour el-Deen Baraka, its local commander in Khan Younis town.

It said militants discovered the car and chased it down, prompting Israeli airstrikes that killed "a number of people."</s>Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in a clandestine raid targeting a Hamas commander and air attacks that provided cover for the commandos to escape back into Israel by car.

The Israeli incursion and air attacks drew rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled enclave late on Sunday. A senior official of Hamas, the group administering the Gaza Strip, said the Israeli special forces team infiltrated an area near the southern city of Khan Younis in a civilian vehicle.

Among those reported killed in the attack was Nour Baraka, a prominent commander of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

A ground operation inside the Gaza Strip is rare and it is likely to up tensions significantly.

“We heard that a special Israeli unit went inside Khan Younis and assassinated Nour Baraka and another [commander],” Ghazi Hamad, senior Hamas official, told Al Jazeera.

“After [that], the car which carried this special unit or some collaborators, they tried to escape … but they were followed by Hamas and the al-Qassam Brigades and after that Israel tried to cover this car through striking here in Gaza,” he added.

“I expect this night in Gaza to not be easy, to not be calm.”

Witnesses said during the chase Israeli aircraft fired more than 40 missiles in the area where the incident took place, killing at least four other people.

Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, denounced what he called a “cowardly Israeli attack”.

Exchange of fire

 An Israeli soldier was killed in an exchange of fire during the operation, the army said, as tensions rose with the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave.

“During an [Israeli] special forces operational activity in the Gaza Strip, an exchange of fire evolved,” the army said in a statement.

“At this incident, an IDF officer was killed and an additional officer was moderately injured,” it added, referring to the Israeli army.

The army said its soldiers had returned.

After the clash erupted, sirens were reported in southern Israel indicating rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

Ten launches from Gaza towards Israel were identified and two were intercepted by Israeli missile defences, the army said. It was not immediately clear where the others landed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on an official visit to France, announced he was rushing back to Israel to deal with the crisis.

A return by Israel to a policy of targeting individual Hamas commanders – tactics largely abandoned in recent years – could significantly raise tensions along the border.

Israel and Palestinian fighters in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008, and recent months of unrest have raised fears of a fourth.

Crippling blockade

 Violence has flared frequently on the frontier since Palestinians began weekly protests on March 30.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have demonstrated along the fence with Israel demanding their right to return to the homes and land their families were expelled from 70 years ago.

They are also demanding an end to Israel’s crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.

Since the Great March of Return demonstrations began on March 30, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more wounded by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the fence.

Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations have been trying to broker a long-term ceasefire.

Mouin Rabbani, a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies, told Al Jazeera it is clear Sunday’s covert operation was “a premeditated assassination”.

“The question that arises is what Israel’s motivations were? Were they, as so often in the past, trying to give Hamas a bloody nose just to remind them that they’re in charge and that they will decide the terms of which any ceasefire is reached?

“Are they perhaps by contrast trying to scuttle this ceasefire initiative and perhaps engage in a larger conflict as happened in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2014?” Rabbani said.

“My sense is that Israel at this stage is probably more interested in giving Hamas a bloody nose and trying to remind people who is boss and it will be Israel that decides the extent to which the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip is maintained.”

Qatari cash

 On Friday, Palestinian civil servants began receiving payments after months of sporadic salary disbursements in cash-strapped Gaza, with $15m delivered into the enclave through Israel in suitcases by Qatar.

Hamas responded by lowering the intensity of Friday’s border protest.

Life under siege – Nafez Adayess: ‘People want to go back to their land’

 A total of $90m will be distributed in six monthly instalments, Gaza authorities said, primarily to cover salaries of officials working for Hamas.

Qatar has also said it would hand out $100 to each of 50,000 poor families, as well as larger sums to Palestinians wounded in clashes along the Gaza-Israel border.

The Gulf emirate has also started buying additional fuel for Gaza’s sole power station, allowing outages to be reduced to their lowest level in years.

The payments are part of what is expected to be a set of informal understandings between Israel and Hamas.

Netanyahu earlier on Sunday defended his decision to allow Qatar to transfer the cash to Gaza despite criticism from within his own government over the move, saying he wanted to avoid a war if it wasn’t necessary.

In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas angrily accused Israel and the United States of ganging up behind his back to entrench Hamas’ control over Gaza.

He also accused Hamas of undermining his goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state that includes all of the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.</s>GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in air strikes and an undercover raid that Hamas said targeted one of its commanders and the Israeli military said left one of its officers dead.

The Israeli incursion and air attacks drew rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled enclave, with sirens sounding in Israeli communities along the border. The military said its defenses intercepted two of the launches. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage on the Israeli side of the frontier.

The violence prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut short a visit to Paris, where he had been gathering with world leaders for a World War One commemoration.

Hamas said the incident began when assailants in a passing car opened fire on a group of its armed men, killing one of its commanders. Hamas gunmen gave chase as the car sped back towards the border with Israel, Hamas said in a statement.

During the pursuit, Israeli aircraft fired more than 40 missiles in the area, according to witnesses.

Medics and Hamas officials said at least seven people were killed, four of them militants, including Hamas commander Nour Baraka. It was unclear if the other fatalities included gunmen.

The Israeli military said in a statement that: “During an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Special Forces operational activity in the Gaza Strip, an exchange of fire evolved.”

One officer was killed and a second was wounded, it said.

A return by Israel to a policy of targeting individual Hamas commanders - tactics largely abandoned in recent years - could significantly raise tensions along the border.

Violence has flared frequently on the frontier since Palestinians began weekly protests on March 30. Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations have been trying to broker a long-term ceasefire.</s>Mourners chant Islamic slogans while carrying the body of Hamas militant commander Nour el-Deen Barakas, who was killed during an Israeli raid late Sunday, during his funeral, at his family house in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 12, 2018. Thousands of mourners in the Gaza Strip buried seven Palestinians, including Barakas, killed after an Israeli incursion into the territory, which also killed one Israeli army officer. The cross-border fighting came just days after Israel and Hamas reached indirect deals, backed by Qatar and Egypt, to allow cash and fuel into Gaza. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) (Adel Hana)</s>Israeli Defense Forces killed at least five civilians and a commander from the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in the illegally blockaded Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian health officials said.

Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said six Palestinians were killed. One of the dead was a local commander for Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, a local hospital reported.

Six others were wounded.

Palestinian security sources said the clash occurred east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Gaza officials said a group of Hamas members was fired at from a passing car. Local witnesses also said Israeli planes fired over 20 missiles into open areas in the area where the incident took place.

The Israeli military said in a brief statement that: "During IDF (Israel Defense Forces) operational activity in the Gaza Strip, an exchange of fire evolved."

Sunday's exchange of fire came as Israel and Hamas appeared to be making progress toward an unofficial cease-fire.

Israel last week allowed Qatar to deliver $15 million to civil servants working under Hamas, while Hamas scaled back weekly demonstrations along the Israeli border.

It was not immediately clear what sparked Sunday's fighting. Shortly after the exchange of fire, air raid sirens sounded in southern Israel, indicating rocket fire from Gaza.</s>Jerusalem, Nov 12 (IANS) The Israeli authorities on Monday tightened security measures around the Gaza Strip following clashes that killed an Army official and wounded another, according to the Israeli military.

The Gaza Health Ministry said an exchange of fire erupted on Sunday night when Israeli forces claimed they were carrying out a military operation near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, which resulted in the deaths of seven Palestinians aged between 19-37 and left seven others injured, Efe news reported.

“During IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) special forces’ operational activity in Gaza, an exchange of fire broke out, during which an IDF officer was killed and an additional IDF officer was moderately injured,” the Israeli Army tweeted.

A Hamas military commander was also killed in Israeli forces operation, reports say. Hamas identified the deceased military commander as 37-year-old Nour Baraka of the Qassam Brigades, according to CNN.

The IDF said that after the gunfire, 17 missiles were fired from Gaza at the Israeli territory, three of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome.

The Israeli authorities, in response, shut down the Israeli railway line from Ashkelon to Sderot as well as schools in the Israeli communities adjacent to Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in Paris along with other world leaders to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War I, cut short his visit to return to Israel to assess the situation.

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman held an assessment meeting with intelligence and military police officials in Tel Aviv’s IDF headquarters early Monday.

Sunday’s escalation came just days after Qatar sent $15 million into Gaza in an attempt to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the coastal enclave and reduce tensions along the Gaza border, which has seen often violent clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters.</s>Mourners chant Islamic slogans while carrying the body of Hamas militant commander Nour el-Deen Barakas, who was killed during an Israeli raid late Sunday, during his funeral, at his family house in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 12, 2018. Thousands of mourners in the Gaza Strip buried seven Palestinians, including Barakas, killed after an Israeli incursion into the territory, which also killed one Israeli army officer. The cross-border fighting came just days after Israel and Hamas reached indirect deals, backed by Qatar and Egypt, to allow cash and fuel into Gaza. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) (Adel Hana)</s>Mourners chant Islamic slogans while carrying the body of Hamas militant commander Nour el-Deen Barakas, who was killed during an Israeli raid late Sunday, during his funeral, at his family house in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 12, 2018. Thousands of mourners in the Gaza Strip buried seven Palestinians, including Barakas, killed after an Israeli incursion into the territory, which also killed one Israeli army officer. The cross-border fighting came just days after Israel and Hamas reached indirect deals, backed by Qatar and Egypt, to allow cash and fuel into Gaza. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) (Adel Hana)
Seven Palestinians, including commander Nour Baraka and three other militants, are killed during a raid by the Israel Defense Forces in the southeastern Gaza Strip, that was supported by air attacks. One IDF officer was killed and another was injured. Over a dozen rockets were subsequently fired from Gaza, three of which were shot down.