Israeli forces killed six Palestinians, at least three of them Hamas militants, during a Gaza Strip raid on Thursday, pressing a nearly four-month offensive launched after a soldier was abducted, witnesses said.
Hamas's armed wing responded by firing six make-shift rockets into Israel. No one was injured. The rockets were the first fired by Hamas militants in over a month but other militant groups have kept up such attacks. Hamas controls the Palestinian government and has rebuffed international pressure to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace deals.
Ahmed Youssef, a top political adviser to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, called for a summit in Egypt between Hamas and the once-dominant Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas over stalled efforts to form a unity government.
On Thursday, a member of an Abbas-controlled intelligence service was killed by unknown gunmen, the latest in a string of assassinations in Gaza targeting security officials loyal to the moderate president.
Youssef said dissolving the Hamas-led government could lead to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority and stepped up attacks against the Jewish state. Overnight, Israeli troops backed by helicopter gunships entered the southern Gaza village of Abassan under dark, touching off clashes.
At least three Hamas militants were killed along with two bystanders - a man and his teenage son. The sixth dead was a Hamas member but was not carrying weapons at the time, residents said. The Israeli army confirmed its forces were operating in the area, saying they were looking for facilities used by militants waging a six-year-old Palestinian revolt. Troops fired on gunmen who tried to attack them, an army spokesman said.
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