Jan 03 2008
Five killed in new Israeli strikes on Gaza
Five Palestinians, including two women, were killed in Israeli ground and air raids in Gaza on Thursday, local medical sources said, in the latest Israeli action against the Hamas-ruled territory.
Israeli troops and tanks backed by combat helicopters were operating in the village of Bani Suheila near the southern town of Khan Yunis, witnesses and medical sources said.
Three Palestinian gunmen and two women were killed by Israeli fire and another 30 people were injured in the attacks, the sources said.
Israel has carried out near-daily military strikes and incursions across what it considers a “hostile entity” since the Islamist movement Hamas seized power in June after routing security forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Israeli troops in about 70 army jeeps also rolled into the West Bank town of Nablus in search of wanted militants on Thursday.
In Gaza, brothers Ahmad Fayyad, 20, and 25-year-old Sami Fayyad, both members of the radical Islamic Jihad, were killed in a raid on a house which also killed their mother, Karima, 50, and sister Asmaa, 20, the medical sources said. Nine other people were injured.
One member of the armed wing of Hamas was also killed during gun battles with Israeli troops.
“Infantry units backed by the air force are continuing to operate in the Khan Yunis area,” an army spokeswoman said, adding that there were “losses” among Palestinians.
Aircraft also destroyed two houses where militants were suspected to be hiding. A third house was blown up by ground troops, witnesses added.
