Israeli troops shot dead two women acting as human shields between soldiers and gunmen holed up in a mosque and killed a dozen other Palestinians on Friday, witnesses said.
The violence came on the third day of an Israeli assault on the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, the largest operation it has conducted in the Gaza Strip in months, designed to put a stop to militants firing home-made rockets into Israel.
An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinian fighters in a car on the outskirts of the nearby town of Jabalya, Palestinian security sources said. An army spokesman said the strike was aimed at two gunmen who had planted bombs near Israeli troops.
A separate Israeli missile strike later killed a senior commander of the Popular Resistance Committees who was walking near Beit Hanoun, Palestinian security sources said. The army said it was checking the report.
Earlier in Beit Hanoun, about 50 veiled women, answering an appeal broadcast on radio, marched on a mosque where about 60 Palestinian gunmen had holed themselves up to act as cover against Israeli troops who raided the town to find fighters.
Reuters television footage showed Israeli forces opening fire and one of the women fall dead. At least 10 were wounded.
The Israeli army said it had fired at armed Palestinians and was investigating whether it had also shot the women. The army said it had film showing armed men among the women, which it described as human shields. The footage filmed by Reuters showed no men among the crowds of women when the first shots were fired.
Israeli soldiers also killed a Hamas fighter near Jabalya during clashes that erupted between troops and Palestinian gunmen, as some 30 Israeli military tanks moved towards the town.
Two more Palestinians were killed in a pair of Israeli air strikes on northern Gaza on Friday, bringing the toll of those killed since Israel stepped up its offensive on Wednesday to 29, Palestinian sources said. One person was killed and three wounded as Israel hit a mosque in the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanun in an air strike, witnesses and a medical source said.
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