Reuters
Israelis kill 4 Palestinians in Gaza
Date: Friday October 8
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli troops have killed four Palestinians, including a militant and a 10-year-old girl, in northern Gaza, bringing to 83 the Palestinian death toll from a massive nine-day-old offensive.
Witnesses and medics said on Friday a missile slammed into a group of militants in Jabalya refugee camp, killing a militant and a civilian. A military source said an Israeli helicopter fired at a group of gunmen carrying a bomb who had approached troops.
A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees militant group said one of their gunmen had been planting the bomb near a tank when he was hit.
Another Palestinian was killed when tanks later opened fire in the camp, medics said. A military source denied tank fire and said a few gunmen were targeted in a second air strike.
Earlier on Friday, Samah Nassar, 10, was killed in the nearby town of Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces have also been operating since the army began one of its biggest and bloodiest raids in northern Gaza in four years of conflict.
An Israeli military source said soldiers shot back after coming under Palestinian fire in the town. They said the army was unaware of the girl's death.
Witnesses said she was shot in the stomach when Israeli tanks and armoured carriers opened fire into the town.
Despite U.S. and international pressure, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the army to press ahead with the operation to halt rocket attacks on Israelis before a planned pullout from Gaza next year.
Israel sent 200 tanks and army vehicles into north Gaza to curb rocket attacks like one that killed two children in a southern Israel town on September 29, fuelling right-wing opposition to his Gaza withdrawal plan.
Of the 83 Palestinian dead, at least 47 were militants and 33 civilians. Three Israelis have also been killed.
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces inched towards the town of Beit Lahiya late on Friday after demolishing several houses in nearby Jabalya. The army has destroyed hundreds of homes in Gaza that it says militants use to fire rockets.
In Gaza City, about 7,000 Palestinians protested against the army raid as militants from the Islamic group Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, called for more rocket attacks.
"Qassam rockets will continue to defend the honour of the Palestinian people," said senior Hamas leader Ahmed Bahar. "We are fighting to liberate our land. We will use all means available until the Zionist enemy is removed."
SOURCE
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