Israeli soldiers killed four Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, on Thursday and wounded at least 35 others in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said.
The violence erupted at Dir al-Balah in southern Gaza Strip, when soldiers opened fire on Palestinians including from helicopters, while trying to unearth a suspected tunnel site, an Israeli source said.
One of the Palestinians was shot dead near the Gaza Strip settlement of "Kfar Darom". He was shot after throwing a Molotov cocktail in the direction of the troops, Israeli sources said. Palestinians identified three victims as Mohammed Abu Musbeh, Ahmed Abu Shawish and Muhammed Barake.
Earlier, at least six Palestinians were wounded and three houses and a mosque were destroyed as Israeli forces launched a wide-scale attack on the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, witnesses and Palestinian official sources said.
According to WAFA, witnesses said that scores of Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles, backed by helicopters, stormed Khan Younis Refugee Camp and al-Namsawi neighbourhood. Israeli troops bombarded houses and a mosque as well as opened heavy machine guns, wounding several Palestinians.
Witnesses said that helicopters fired five missiles on the said neighbourhood leaving several people wounded. "We left our houses and gathered at the tip of one of the streets, we were looking at the helicopter," eyewitness from the camp told WAFA.
Two housing building host (32 apartments) were blown up by Israeli soldiers during the attack, witnesses said.
An eyewitness, one of the dwellers, said that Israeli soldiers planted explosive device in the two eight-storey buildings and completely destroyed them. A third house, owned by Hamed family, was went up in flames after being struck with an Israeli missile.
WAFA added that bulldozers destroyed a mosque and partially damaged "Mubarak Hospital" in al-Namsawi neighborhood.
Palestinian security sources said that Israeli forces launched the attack on Wednesday overnight and continued it till the early morning of Thursday. (albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
