Militants and Palestinians killed in clashes with Israel
GAZA: Israel killed two Hamas militants in air strikes on Gaza, and two Palestinian protesters were killed in clashes with Israeli forces along the enclave’s border.
The strikes on Friday were a response to gunfire from southern Gaza that wounded two Israeli soldiers, the Israeli military said.
Hamas, the militant group that rules the Palestinian enclave, said two members of its armed wing had been killed and three wounded when Israel bombed one of its positions in central Gaza.
Later on Friday, two Palestinians shot by Israeli troops while taking part in weekly protests along the border died of their wounds, Gaza health officials said.
The Israeli military said some 5,200 Palestinians had amassed along the frontier, but did not immediately provide further comment.
The protesters are demanding an end to a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt, and want Palestinians to have the right to return to land from which their families fled or were forced to flee during Israel’s founding in 1948, which Israel rejects.
More than 200 Gazans have been killed by Israeli troops since the “Great March of Return” started on March 30 last year, according to Gaza health officials. An Israeli soldier was also killed by a Palestinian sniper.
Egyptian mediators, credited with brokering a ceasefire after a Hamas rocket attack north of Tel Aviv in March set off a burst of intense fighting, have been working to prevent a new escalation.
Hamas said in a statement on Thursday that its Gaza chief, Yeyha Al-Sinwar, had travelled to Cairo for talks on efforts to maintain calm along the border and alleviate Palestinian suffering. — Reuters