Israeli Air Force aircraft fired missiles at Palestinian gunmen early Saturday, killing six and wounding 10, Palestinian security officials said.Five of the dead were identified as members of the Islamic militant Hamas group, security officials said. Two of the wounded were in serious condition. A woman was also among those hurt. Witnesses said ambulances driving to the scene came under fire. The gunmen were targeted east of Gaza City, near the Gaza-Israel border.
More than a dozen Israeli tanks also moved in the area, and security officials reported exchanges of fire between the Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen.
An Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson said the incident began when an anti-tank missile was fired at an Israeli bulldozer. Troops responded with fire from the air and the ground. The IDF said it knew of at least one dead and several wounded gunmen.
Three Hamas gunnies killed in IAF strike in northern Gaza
An Israel Air Force aircraft struck a car in the northern Gaza Strip early Friday, killing a local Hamas commander and two other Hamas operatives, the group said. Palestinian sources said five pedestrians were hurt in the air strike, Israel Radio reported. The Israel Defense Forces, which has stepped up an offensive in Gaza in recent days, said it attacked the militants on their way to firing Qassam rockets at Israel and that the car was full of rockets. The militants were also responsible for firing Qassam rockets at the Negev on Thursday, the IDF said.Southern Gaza incident
In southern Gaza on Friday, Gaza residents said IDF troops shot dead a Palestinian woman in a Gaza village where soldiers and militants clashed. Palestinian doctors said the woman was shot by an IDF sniper while she was standing outside her home in southern Gaza.
The IDF said troops in the area identified two gunmen east approaching the force east of Khan Yunis and opened fire, hitting both of them, but was not aware of a woman being hit. One of the gunmen was killed and the other was wounded, Israel Radio reported. "The soldiers were operating in the area in search of underground tunnels and other security threats," an army spokesman said.
Military sources said the IDF plans to continue its offensive because the Palestinian terror groups are continuing to arm themselves, Hamas is increasingly becoming involved in attacks on Israel, and talks aimed at securing the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit have stalled. The IDF is operating in northern Gaza and east of Khan Yunis. Hamas vowed revenge Thursday, and the head of its political bureau, Khaled Meshal, called Israel a "cancer that must be pulled out by its roots."
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