further escalate ongoing fighting in the region that already injured several soldiers and civilians.
The statement was made by Hezbollah’s television network, al-Manar, and confirmed by the Israeli military. The Israeli army said the pair had gone missing and added there was a "strong possibility" that Hezbollah had abducted them. Israel also said that the armed Hezbollah group in Lebanon fired missiles into northern Israel wounding several soldiers and civilians.
The Arabic news channel Aljazeera quoted Lebanese security sources as saying that Israeli aircraft retaliated by bombing a main bridge in southern Lebanon.
Israeli gunners retaliated, firing salvoes of artillery shells into the outskirts of four Lebanese border villages while Israeli soldiers exchanged gunfire with guerrillas in the area, news reports said.
TOWN ATTACKED
The latest violence reportedly began when at least two rockets fired from south Lebanon exploded near Shlomi, an Israeli frontier town about 15 kilometers (almost 10 miles) east of the Mediterranean coast.
Rockets and mortar rounds were fired from Lebanon towards the Israeli town of Shlomi and at Israeli outposts in the disputed Shebaa farms area, reports said. The shelling was apparently accompanied by automatic gunfire and at least four people were wounded.
The news came shortly after Israeli forces expanded an offensive elsewhere, in Gaza,by moving into the central part of the Strip, overnight with reports that air strikes killed at least six people. Media reports quoted hospital sources as saying that a mother and four children were among the dead.
BLASTING HOUSE
Israel confirmed Wednesday, July 12, it blasted a house and killed at least six people in Gaza City, but said it happened during a "high-level meeting" of commanders of the militant group Hamas, now part of the Palestinian Authority government.
Israel said the man who has topped its wanted list for a decade, identified as Mohammed Deif, was wounded.
The Associated Press (AP) news agency quoted Abu Obeideh, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, as saying that Deif was "in good health and in a good place," but offered no further details. He warned that the attack would "change all standards, opening new options that never have been used." Analysts and Christians have expressed concern that the region is edging closer towards all-out war
CHURCHES CONCERNED
The World Council of Churches in previous statement to BosNewsLife, expressed concern over the escalating violence amid fears it could further hamper humanitarian aid proviced by Christians and others within Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military said it launched the attack as part of a two-week-old military offensive to free a captured Israeli soldier and to end rocket attacks against Israeli cities launched by militants from Palestinian areas.
Israeli forces have reportedly knocked out much of Gaza’s power supply and left over 50 Palestinians dead, most of them gunmen. One Israeli soldier also has died, news reports said.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defense minister, Amir Peretz, ordered the latest incursions into Gaza after Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said Monday he would not free Shalit security officials told AP on condition of anonymity, apparently because of the sensitivity of the operation. (With reports from Israel)
