Eight Palestinians killed during Israeli raid
Israeli troops raided southern Gaza early today, killing at least eight Palestinians, including four militants and an eight-year-old boy, in the latest stage of their month-long offensive, Palestinian officials said.
About 50 tanks, accompanied by bulldozers, pushed into an area near the Gaza-Egypt border before dawn, taking up positions near the long-closed Gaza airport, residents and Palestinian security officials said.
The forces advanced about five miles, the farthest since the offensive started in late June, blocking a main highway and the eastern entrance to Rafah, a town on the Egyptian border.
As the tanks took up positions, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at four groups of gunmen, killing four. Twenty-six Palestinians were wounded in the air strikes, at least 10 of them militants, security and hospital officials said.
Later, forces fired a tank shell at residents gathering in the area after daybreak, killing an eight-year-old boy and wounding three people – one a four-year-old girl – hospital and security officials said.
Three more bodies were brought to the hospital early today, but they were not believed to be militants, medics said.
The army confirmed Israeli forces were carrying out an operation in southern Gaza. The air force fired at militants who were about to launch anti-tank rockets at Israeli forces, the army said.
Israel launched the Gaza offensive after a June 25 cross-border raid by Hamas-linked militants who tunnelled under the frontier and attacked an Israeli army post, killing two soldiers and capturing a third.
Israeli ground forces have moved in and out of several parts of the territory regularly since then, confronting armed militants and leaving behind considerable destruction.
Flyers dropped in Gaza by the Israeli military today portrayed the exiled political leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, as a gambler.
A cartoon drawing showed Mashaal holding three cards reading “security", “prosperity” and “future” with a message saying he was “gambling with the future of Palestine and bringing disappointment, despair and destruction” to Palestinians.
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