However, tensions ran high, especially with the Mossad suspected of assassinating Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, and a rocket launched from Gaza killing a Thai farm worker working an Israeli field.

On March 27, Israeli troops backed by tanks, armored vehicles, helicopters, and mortars entered Gaza in retaliation and clashed with Palestinian fighters.

[6] According to Palestinian sources, five Israeli tanks and two armored bulldozers entered Gaza and fired shells at targets near Khan Younis before withdrawing.

The Palestinian armed groups Hamas, Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, and Jaljalat, claimed to have been involved in the fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed condolences to the families of the dead and the wounded, while a Hamas spokesperson claimed the deaths of the two soldiers as revenge for Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.