Israelis kill militant blamed for child deaths
A Hamas militant killed by Israeli army fire today was responsible for a rocket attack which killed two Israeli children last week, according to the Israeli army.
It was the killing of the children that triggered Israel’s current military offensive in northern Gaza.
Abed Nabhan, 25, a Hamas field commander, was killed when Israeli troops fired at Hamas militants preparing to fire an anti-tank missile from the Jebaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
After the deadly rocket attack on the Israeli border down of Sderot on September 29, the Israeli army launched the largest incursion into northern Gaza since Israeli-Palestinian fighting broke out four years ago.
About 2,000 troops and hundreds of army vehicles took control of a five-mile strip of northern Gaza in an effort to move rocket launchers out of the range of Israeli towns.
The army said Nabhan was also responsible for a September 30 attack on an army post in northern Gaza which killed an Israeli soldier and wounded two others.
Nabhan and three other Hamas gunmen were preparing to fire an anti- tank missile at Israeli troops in the Jebaliya refugee camp when the army fired on them.
The shots set off an explosion, killing Nabhan and wounding the three other gunmen, the army said.
Earlier today, a lengthy gun battle erupted between Palestinian militants and Israeli troops just outside the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, killing two Palestinians, according to medical officials.
The deaths brought the number of Palestinians killed to 92 since Israel began its offensive in northern Gaza.
Almost half of those killed in the raid were civilians, 18 were age 16 and under.
The gunfight in Beit Hanoun broke out when Israeli troops tried to move to the east side of the town and Palestinians tried to stop them, residents said.
Also Saturday, about 15 Israeli tanks moved toward the nearby village of Beit Lahiya, apparently attempting to enter it. The tank advance was accompanied by explosions and machine-gun fire from helicopters and tanks, which wounded two people, residents said.
Meanwhile in southern Gaza, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile Saturday morning at a group of Palestinians in the town of Khan Younis, killing two Palestinian security officers who were armed and wearing civilian clothing, hospital and security officials said.
The Israeli military said it had targeted two armed gunmen.
