Do More With Reuters
Partner Services

Israeli army kills 8 Palestinians in Gaza fighting

Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:47am IST
 
Email | Print | | Single Page
[-] Text [+]

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed four Palestinian militants and four civilians, including an 11-year-old boy, in assaults on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Friday, the Islamist faction and medical officials said.

The operations near the communities of el Bureij and Khan Younis followed a vow by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to answer a deadly Palestinian assault on a Gaza border terminal on Wednesday with a stepped-up military campaign against Hamas.

Troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships moved into el Bureij, in central Gaza, on what an Israeli military spokeswoman described as a mission "to disrupt the terrorist infrastructure and distance terrorists from the border fence".

Palestinian officials said Israeli ground forces killed four civilians, one of them a boy. A helicopter missile strike killed a Hamas gunman and a fighter from the Army of the Nation, an al Qaeda-inspired Gazan faction, the Palestinian officials said.

The military spokeswoman said Israeli forces attacked several gunmen during clashes. Reuters Television footage from el Bureij showed militants in the village's orchards.

Hours earlier, Israeli air strikes killed two Hamas gunmen near Khan Younis, in south Gaza, and wounded seven others.

Israel regularly mounts raids on Gaza, where Hamas took over last June after a civil war with forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in what it calls a bid to stop cross-border rocket salvoes.

In parallel, Israel has intensified an economic blockade on Gaza, most of whose 1.5 million Palestinians are aid-dependent.  Continued...

Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin poses with his G20 colleagues and central bank leaders during the family photo at the G20 Finance Ministers meeting at a hotel in St. Andrews, Scotland. REUTERS/POOL New
Pledge to support economies

G20 financial leaders pledged to prepare strategies to end emergency support for their economies, but to keep the aid flowing until recovery was assured.  Full Article | Related Story 

Photo
Photo
Miss England gives up crown over brawl reports Friday, 6 Nov 2009 

LONDON (Reuters) - Beauty pageant winner Miss England gave up her title on Friday after reports she had been involved in a nightclub brawl with another beauty queen.  Full Article