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Some reports link Hezbollah

Palestinians declare day of celebration, hand out candy to kids at checkpoints

Haaretz:

Hamas claimed responsibility for Thursday’s shooting attack at the Mercaz Harav religious school in Jerusalem that killed eight people, a Hamas official said on Friday.

Ala Abu Dahim, 25, from the village of Jabal Mukhbar, was shot and killed during the massacre. Several residents of Jabal Mukhbar said he had been a driver at the yeshiva he attacked. His family set up a mourning tent Friday and hung green Hamas flags outside their home.

The Hamas movement announces its full responsibility for the Jerusalem operation. The movement will release the details at a later stage,” the official said.

Eight boys – seven of whoe were aged 15 to 19 and one aged 26 – were killed Thursday and nine more wounded when the gunman entered the yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Kiryat Moshe neighborhood and opened fire in the library. Three of the wounded were in a critical condition.

Initially, an organization calling itself Galilee Freedom Battalions-the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station, while Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the gunman had acted alone.

Rosenfeld added the gunman came from a neighborhood where Palestinian residents hold Israeli ID cards that give them freedom of movement in Israel.

The man worked as a driver, Rosenfeld confirmed, but would not provide further details.

Abu Dahim was arrested by Israeli authorities four months ago and then
released two months later, they said. The residents would not give their names because the family had not authorized them to release the information.

Lebanon: Israeli warplanes fly over Beirut

Israel Air Force planes flew over the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday, Lebanese security sources said. Officials said the two IAF aircraft violated Lebanese airspace and flew over Beirut at a medium altitude briefly before leaving the area.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said the IDF knew of no activity in Beirut.

The IAF frequently flies reconnaissance missions over south Lebanon and has drawn ground fire from Lebanese troops on at least two occasions since the cease-fire in August 2006 which ended the month-long Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah.

They have occasionally flown over Beirut as well. Three IAF reconnaissance planes violated Lebanese airspace in southern Lebanon Thursday, the Lebanese army said in a statement Friday.

The latest Israeli overflights come amid tensions over Thursday’s attack in Jerusalem at the rabbinical seminary. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar satellite TV station said a previously unknown group called the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza was responsible for the attack – a claim that could not immediately be verified.

Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbollah commander, was killed in a car bomb in Syria last month. Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the assassination and vowed retaliation.