At least eight Palestinians were killed early Tuesday during Israeli raids in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the worse incident, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile in northern Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing four Islamic Jihad activists and wounding four other people, Palestinian security and hospital officials said.
They said the incident started when for the first time since the Israeli withdrawal, an Israeli force entered Palestinian territories in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya Monday night. The Israeli troops ambushed an Islamic Jihad cell, intending to launch rockets into Israel. Then the helicopter fired the missile. Witnesses said two ambulance staff and a radio reporter were among the injured.
The Palestinians said that they had spotted the Israeli soldiers and that the National Security personnel were the first to open fire. During the clashes, five Islamic Jihad members died.
Elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers killed a man who was attempting to infiltrate Israel from Egypt.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank occupation forces killed three Palestinians in separate pre-dawn raids across the West Bank. In the Balata refugee camp a 17-year-old Palestinian was shot dead.
In the northern West Bank village of Qabatia, an Israeli unit exchanged fire with a group of Palestinian fighters, killing Tareq Ahmed Zakarne 24, from the Islamic Jihad, local witnesses said.
In Anabta, close to the central West Bank town of Tulkarm occupation troops shot dead a Palestinian in an olive grove. Local witnesses said 29-year-old Isama Namari was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
