- Two Palestinian girls, aged 4 and 7, were killed Thursday
during the final day of an Israel Defense Forces raid in the northern Gaza
Strip, Palestinian sources said. Also Thursday, three Israeli soldiers
were wounded in Gaza.
-
- The sources said the 4-year-old, Assma Abu Klik, died
of tear-gas inhalation and the 7-year-old, Muna Abu Tabak, was killed by
gunfire, both west of Beit Hanun.
-
- Also Thursday, Mohammed al-Malfouh, 16, was killed by
IDF gunfire while throwing stones at IDF tanks from close range, along
with dozens of other teens. Including the two young Palestinian girls and
al-Malfouh, a total of 17 Palestinians - among them at least five armed
militants - were killed in the three-day raid and some 40 Palestinians
were wounded.
-
- The IDF said Palestinian gunmen, operating near crowds
of youngsters, had hurled grenades and fired automatic weapons and an
anti-tank
missile at the soldiers, who shot back at them.
-
- "We did not fire at [residential] buildings or
children,"
an IDF spokesman said.
-
- IDF troops pulled out of the northern Gaza Strip on
Thursday,
the third day of an operation aimed at stopping Palestinians from firing
rockets at Israeli neighborhoods.
-
- Hamas issued a statement late Thursday condemning the
raids and pledging continued resistance. Hamas also complained about
"the
suspicious international silence and the humiliating Arab weakness toward
the Zionist crimes."
-
- Three IDF soldiers wounded An IDF officer was lightly
wounded Thursday in clashes with Palestinian militants near Beit Lahia
in northern Gaza, and two IDF troops were moderately wounded by a
Palestinian
anti-tank missile fired at the Gaza Strip settlement of Kfar Darom.
-
- IDF tanks and infantry forces, backed by helicopter
gunships,
entered the towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanun in the northern Strip on
Tuesday, on the heels of several Qassam rocket and mortar attacks that
targeted towns and communities in the Negev and Israeli settlements in
the northern Gaza Strip.
-
- A Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in the
Negev area, close to Gaza's security fence, Israeli media reported
Thursday.
There were no injuries or damage, and the rocket fell in an open area,
the reports said.
-
- Also Thursday, IDF troops entered the southern Gaza town
of Rafah, searching for tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt, Israel
Radio reported. A number of buildings were destroyed during the operation,
the radio said.
-
- 3 Palestinian militants killed by IDF fire near Tul Karm
Three Palestinian militants were shot and killed by IDF soldiers near the
West Bank city of Tul Karm early Thursday morning.
-
- The three men were said to be carrying Kalashnikov
assault
rifles. No IDF soldiers were injured in the incident.
-
- The three, who appeared on the IDF's wanted list, were
identified as Bilal Abu-Amshe, the Tanzim leader in the Tul Karm refugee
camp, Haitam Barame and Ghanem Ghanem.
-
- The IDF says that the latter two were involved in
planning
and carrying out the April 3 terror attack on the settlement of Avnei
Hefetz
in which Kobi Zaga was killed and his teenage daughter was wounded.
-
- Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad all claimed responsibility
for the attack. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades has vowed to avenge Thursday's
deaths.
-
- Soldiers from the Egoz unit encountered the three men
early Thursday morning in an open field between the West Bank city and
the nearby Nur a-Shams refugee camp.
-
- IDF troops arrested a further 10 wanted Palestinians
in operations overnight in the West Bank, Israel Radio reported.
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