Israeli forces backed by tanks killed four Palestinians in Gaza today, medical officials said, as the army pressed on with one of its biggest operations in the coastal strip in months.
A doctor in a Gaza Strip hospital treats a Palestinian boy who was injured by an Israeli airstrike in Beit Hanoun today
Relatives said one of the dead was a civilian. He was a 75-year-old man who died killed when he went onto the balcony of his home in the northern town of Beit Hanoun to take his disabled son inside.
He was shot in the head by Israeli troops on a rooftop, they said. Israel's army said its forces were targeting only militants.
Also among the dead was a militant who was killed in fresh fighting with Israeli troops in the town, witnesses said. Hospital officials said 15 people had been wounded, including four children and a woman who were hurt when a tank shell hit their house.
Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians including at least five militants yesterday. One Israeli soldier was killed. The assault is one of the biggest since Israel launched an offensive in Gaza to press for the release of a soldier captured by gunmen who carried out a cross-border raid in June.
The violence has further dimmed the chance of peace talks resuming between Israel and the Palestinians, already a bleak prospect since the militant Hamas movement took office in March after winning elections.