Israel, Gaza militants trade cross-border fire
Israel and Gaza militants traded cross-border fire yesterday, renewing deadly violence a day after Israeli strikes killed 15 people in the Palestinian territory.
Smoke billowed from the densely-populated Palestinian territory after Israel announced it was targeting rocket launching infrastructure held by Islamic Jihad militants.
Gaza's health ministry said seven people were killed in the airstrikes.
The Israeli military said sirens warning of incoming fire blared in communities close to the border, including the city of Ashkelon.
The latest violence comes a day after Israeli strikes on Gaza killed three top Islamic Jihad militants and 12 others, including four children, according to a health ministry toll.
Israel's military said yesterday's strikes included firing on militants "who were travelling to a rocket launch site in the city of Khan Yunis" in southern Gaza.
Islamic Jihad had vowed Tuesday to retaliate, with Israel warning its residents near the border to stay near bomb shelters.
The senior Islamic Jihad operatives killed were named as Jihad Ghannam, Khalil al-Bahtini and Tareq Ezzedine.
Although based in Gaza, the latter was a militant leader in West Bank. Earlier yesterday, Israeli troops raided the West Bank town of Qabatiya, killing two people who the army accused of firing at soldiers.
The Palestinian health ministry identified the two men as Ahmed Jamal Tawfiq Assaf, 19, and Rani Walid Ahmed Qatanat, 24.
The Israeli military said troops detained one person during the raid, when soldiers were shot at from a vehicle.
"The soldiers responded with live fire toward the two assailants and killed them," the army said.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967 and its forces regularly operate in Palestinian cities.
The Gaza violence this week is the worst since a three-day escalation in August killed 49 Palestinians, with no Israeli fatalities.
Following Tuesday's air strikes, Egypt, a longtime mediator in Gaza, warned that such actions "inflame the situation in a way that could get out of control".
The Arab League yesterday condemned the "aggressive (and) barbaric Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip, which targeted civilians, children and women in residential neighbourhoods".
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