At least six Palestinians were killed Tuesday by Israeli fire. In the first incident, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian fighter in an operation in the West Bank city of Nablus before dawn Tuesday, the Israeli army and Palestinian doctors said. The Israeli troops operating in the Al-Ein refugee camp spotted a Palestinian who fired at them before they returned fire and hit him, the army said.
The victim was identified as 38-year-old Nasser Mabrouk, a member of an offshoot of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Palestinians also threw grenades at the soldiers, the Israeli army said, according to the AP. Occupation forces also operated in the Al-Askar refugee camp, the army said.
In the afternoon, an Israeli missile strike killed three Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip near the border fence with Israel, medical workers and locals said.
An Israeli army spokesman said Tuesday's attack was carried out against "militants" seen operating near the border fence. Residents initially reported a missile hitting a car, but witnesses later said the gunmen were on foot.
Palestinian ambulance crews collected three bodies at the scene, and witnesses said the men were in military-style clothing, Reuters reported.
Later in the day, two Palestinian boys were killed by an Israeli missile in the northern Gaza Strip, a Palestinian ministry of health official said. According to Reuters, the official said one of the boys was 11 years old. Three other boys were wounded, the official said.
On Monday, six Hamas members were killed and one other was wounded in an Israeli strike on a car traveling in the central Gaza Strip. On its part, Hamas' militay wing, the Qassam Brigades, condemned the attack, called it a massacre and threatened retaliation.
