Israeli troops killed five Palestinians and wounded a dozen in attacks on militants in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on Tuesday, medics and witnesses said.
Troops in Gaza, who launched an offensive in June to free an abducted soldier and suppress cross-border rocket fire, fired a tank shell into a crowd in the Shijaia district, a militant stronghold, killing two people and wounding three, witnesses said. An army spokesman said troops identified two militants armed with an anti-tank missile and fired at them.
One of the dead was a militant from the governing Hamas movement, members of the group said. It was unclear if the second man was a militant or a civilian.
Earlier, witnesses said two men were hit by high-calibre Israeli weapons fire in the same area. Medics said one had died from his wounds and both wore civilian clothing.
An army spokesman said soldiers in the area had fired a tank shell at three militants who were spotted planting a device that contained wires, which troops suspected to be a bomb.
Israeli forces have been operating around Shijaia since the weekend and there were clashes there most of Tuesday. The Israeli army has killed more than 190 Palestinians in Gaza since starting the offensive after gunmen abducted the soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25.
An Israeli air strike in Gaza wounded eight Palestinians. The army said it had targeted gunmen. Israeli forces killed two gunmen during a clash in Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, said witnesses who identified the two as members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. An Israeli military spokesman said troops patrolling the refugee camp spotted the gunmen on the rooftop and there was an exchange of fire.
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