Israel kills 5 Palestinians, including 3 militants

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli troops killed five Palestinians
and wounded more than a dozen in attacks on militants in the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank on Tuesday, medics and witnesses
said.

Troops in Gaza, who launched an offensive in June to free
an abducted soldier and stop cross-border rocket fire, fired a
tank shell into a crowd in the Shijaia district, a militant
stronghold, killing two people and wounding three, witnesses
said.

An army spokesman said troops identified two militants
armed with an anti-tank missile and fired at them.

One of the dead was a militant from the governing Hamas
Islamist movement, members of the group said. It was unclear if
the second man was a militant or a civilian.

Troops also shot and wounded two Palestinian men in
Shajaia, where Israeli forces have been operating around since
the weekend. There were clashes there most of Tuesday. The army
said it was checking the report of the shooting.

Earlier, Palestinian witnesses said one Palestinian was
killed and another wounded by high-caliber Israeli weapons fire
in the same area. Medics said they both wore civilian clothing.

An army spokesman said soldiers in the area had fired a
tank shell at three militants who were spotted planting a
device that contained wires, which troops suspected to be a
bomb.

The Israeli army has killed more than 190 Palestinians in
Gaza since starting the offensive after gunmen abducted the
soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25.

An Israeli air strike in Gaza wounded eight Palestinians.
The army said it had targeted gunmen.

Israeli forces killed two gunmen during a clash in Balata
refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, said witnesses who
identified the two as members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades,
an armed wing of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction.

An Israeli military spokesman said troops patrolling the
refugee camp spotted the gunmen on the rooftop and there was an
exchange of fire.