Four Palestinians killed in Gaza raids
Israeli troops and aircraft attacked Islamic militants in the southern Gaza Strip today, killing two Hamas fighters and two civilians and wounding 15 people.
Hamas said one of its men died in a pre-dawn airstrike, east of the town of Khan Younis, and a second was killed along with his 70-year-old mother when ground troops fired at their house.
An Israeli army statement said that in an operation against “terror threats” from the southern Gaza Strip, forces fired at armed militants in four separate incidents and hit the targets on each occasion.
A spokesman said aircraft carried out three attacks and ground forces shot a gunman posing a threat to soldiers.
Palestinian medical officials said a second civilian, Ibrahim al-Shami, 40, was shot dead by soldiers when he went out onto the roof of his house and that of a total of 15 people wounded, seven were civilians.
The army often carries out raids into Gaza to target militants and to thwart rocket fire toward Israeli towns.
The military was also in action in the West Bank, where troops rounded up 13 suspects overnight and took them for questioning, an army statement said. It did not give further details.
