Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinians Monday morning after the two unarmed men approached the so-called "security fence" between the Gaza Strip and the adjacent Negev region.
Soldiers arrested a third Palestinian trying to infiltrate into Israel, and were searching for three others who crossed into Israeli territory nearby, the army said.
The area along the Gaza-Negev border fence is off-limits to Palestinians. When Israeli troops saw the group of six nearing the area, they opened fire. Two were killed instantly. Four infiltrated Israel. One of the Palestinians was caught early Monday in Israel, the army said.
Meanwhile, police and soldiers searched for the other three Palestinians, setting up impromptu checkpoints and roadblocks throughout southern Israel, the army added.
The group of Palestinians wanted to enter Israel to find work, the Israeli army acknowledged.
Elsewhere, Israeli forces backed by about two dozen tanks raided the Khan Yunis refugee camp early Monday, demolishing a number of buildings said to have been used as "firing platforms for mortar attacks on adjacent settlements," witnesses said.
A bomb hurled at the troops lightly wounded two of the soldiers, Israel Radio said.
In Khan Yunis, Palestinian residents of the camp said the army destroyed eight buildings - three of them abandoned, and five of them houses that people no longer sleep in at night due to frequent firefights in the area.
The military said the goal of the operation was to destroy buildings used by fighters for "firing mortars". A gun battle erupted during the raid, but no casualties were reported in the shooting. (Albawaba.com)
