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Israeli soldiers kill Hamas gunmen in Gaza Strip operation

Two Hamas gunmen were killed early yesterday in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers during the army's latest operation in the Gaza Strip, sources on both sides said.

Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said two of its members died in the shootout near the northern town of Beit Hanun. Initial reports said the gunmen were killed in an air raid.

An army spokesman said troops operating near the border fence opened fire on two armed Palestinians who were approaching the barrier between Gaza and Israel and reported hitting them.

GROUND, AIR STRIKES

The latest operation came a day after heavy Israeli ground and air strikes killed nine Palestinians in the densely-populated territory where the Islamist movement Hamas violently seized control in mid-June.

Among the dead were two brothers, members of the radical Islamic Jihad group who were targeted inside their home. The men's mother and sister also died in the attack.

Thursday's raids also left 48 people wounded and several houses destroyed, witnesses and medics said.

Israel has been carrying out near daily operations in Gaza aiming to halt near daily rocket and mortar fire from the territory.

TENSION

The latest Israeli strikes came shortly before US President George W. Bush's visit to the region next week in a bid to advance Middle East peace talks.

"The parties are continuing to try to meet and talk, but obviously it's fraught with a lot of tension," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Yesterday's deaths bring to 6,032 the number of people killed since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000, the vast majority of them Palestinians.

On Thursday, a rocket landed without causing injuries about 15km from the Gaza border in the coastal city of Ashkelon -- the furthest a rocket launched by Gaza militants had ever landed inside the Jewish state, the army said.
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