Three Palestinians were killed on Tuesday when Israeli troops opened fire on them in central Gaza after soldiers conducted house-to-house searches in the area. The early morning raid came after Israeli tanks reportedly entered the eastern portion of the Gaza Strip.
Though no weapons were found near the bodies, according to the AP, Palestinian security officials maitiand that the three had been sent to carry out an attack.
Additionaly, two Gaza structures that Israeli military sources maintain were used to store weapons were also targeted in an aerial attack. The structures hit were located near the Jabalya refugee camp and the southern Gaza town of Rafah, according to Ynet.
Clashes ensued between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters, reported Reuters, while eyewitnesses stated that the Israeli tanks, which entered the Strip near the Karni crossing, Gaza's main cross-border terminal, were accompanied by unmanned drones.
Eyewitnesses and the Israeli military maintained that residents in the areas targeted by Israel's air force were warned ahead of time of an imminent attack, and told to leave their homes.
Also on Tuesday, Israeli forces in the West Bank arrested nine Palestinians. Two of the men, apprehended near the town of Nablus, were reportedly Fatah members, while thee more Fatah members were detained in the Ramallah area.
Near the northern town of Jenin another man who was reportedly a Hamas member was also arrested, along with two men in Jericho.
No word yet on kidnapped journalists
Meanwhile, the whereabouts of two journalists from the Fox TV network who had been abducted in the Gaza Strip last week are still unknown, and no one has taken responsibility for the incident.
Though cases of kidnappings are common in the area, most are resolved within a number of days.
One of the journalists was American Steve Centanni, whose siblings appealed for his released in a televised statement. The second journalist, New Zealand cameraman Olaf Wiig was also abducted along with Centanni on August 14.
Stressing the support Centanni had for the Palestinian people, his brother, Ken Centanni, appealed to his abductors, saying: "I would like his captors to know that Steve is an honorable man, who always tries to do what is right. Steve has strong respect for the Palestinian people and their culture."
"He is far more valuable to the Palestinian people free, as a journalist, than as a captive. We love Steve very much and now his health, his safety and his life is your responsibility. Please, contact our family. Let us know that he is alive and unharmed," he said. "Steve was in Gaza with Olaf Wiig to report the truth."
