Saboteurs were active in the Gaza Strip and in the Dead Sea area last night where explosions caused slight damage but no casualties, a military spokesman reported today. Two explosive charges went off under two small railroad bridges near Khan Yunis, in the southern end of the Strip and another detonated on the railroad line near the town of Gaza. Two other explosive charges, discovered near the Gaza airport and near Khan Yunis, were safely dismantled.
An Israeli halftrack struck a mine at Neot Hakikar at the southern shore of the Dead Sea, near evaporation ponds of the Dead Sea Potash Works. There were no casualties, according to the military spokesman. An Israeli soldier was injured in a mine explosion near the same spot last week.
Israeli security forces blew up two houses in Kablan village, near Nablus. The buildings were owned by two El Fatah members who were killed in a clash north of Jericho last Saturday. The dead men were identified by a third guerrilla who was wounded in the encounter and captured. The latter’s house in Kablan was destroyed earlier.
A military tribunal in Gaza today imposed stiff prison sentences on five members of an Arab spy ring that had been supplying Egypt with military information by wireless from the Gaza Strip. Abdual Wahab, ringleader and its chief communications man, received three sentences totaling 49 years, but the court ruled that they are to be served concurrently which means that Wahab will be jailed for 20 years. He was found guilty of transmitting military intelligence to Egypt, possession of military intelligence and membership in an underground terrorist organization. Wahab was formerly a sergeant in the Egyptian signal corps.
His four subordinates were each given sentences totaling 34 years but will serve only 15 year terms according to the court’s ruling.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
