6
Palestinians die in Gaza incursions
JERUSALEM—Israeli troops killed six Palestinian gunmen in airstrikes in
the Gaza Strip on Saturday and set up a makeshift detention center just
outside the territory, Palestinian security officials and the Israeli
military said.
The military offensive is aimed at stopping rocket fire into Israel
during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which ends Sunday.
The six dead gunmen were all members of the Islamic militant group
Hamas, Palestinian security officials said.
Fifteen people were wounded in the missile strikes east of Gaza City,
including two who were in serious condition, hospital officials said. A
woman was also among those hurt. Witnesses said ambulances driving to
the scene came under fire by Israeli forces.
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.
The Israeli military said the clash began when militants fired an
anti-tank missile at an Israeli bulldozer. Troops responded with fire
from the air and the ground. The army confirmed that soldiers hit a
group of Palestinian gunmen.
Saturday's deaths brought to 20 the number of Palestinians killed by
Israeli troops in three days. Most of the dead were militants. However,
two children, ages 10 and 14, and 29-year-old woman were also killed.
On Friday the army set up a makeshift detention center next to Israel's
border with Gaza to interrogate dozens of Palestinians detained in the
latest incursions, an army spokeswoman said. She could not say how many
Palestinians were detained so far.
Photos published by the Israeli Web site Ynet showed soldiers guarding a
group of blindfolded, handcuffed Palestinians, their hair covered by
desert dust. One soldier held up a water bottle to a detainee's mouth.
The army said troops were intensifying their offensive in areas from
where militants routinely try to fire homemade rockets into southern
Israel.
Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-led government, said Israel had
"evil plans of a bloody military escalation" in the Gaza Strip.
The army has carried out repeated offensives in Gaza since late June,
after militants linked to the ruling Hamas group tunneled into Israel
and captured a soldier, who remains in captivity.
More than 200 Palestinians have been killed since then. After a lull in
the violence for several weeks, fighting has intensified in recent days.—Agencies |
