Palestinian medics wheel a Hamas militant into al-Shifa Hospital following an Israeli attack in Gaza City on 12 July 2012. (Photo: AFP - Mahmoud Hams)
A Palestinian fighter from the ruling Hamas movement was killed and two others wounded on Thursday in an unprovoked Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip, medics said.
The attack targeted a training ground used by Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, which lies just east of Gaza City, they said.
The dead man was named by medics as Mahmoud al-Hiqi, 27, and the other two, who were moderately injured in the strike, were also identified as Hamas members.
It is a continued assault on the Hamas-held territory following Israeli tank shelling in an area east of Gaza City early Thursday that wounded three Palestinians, one of them critically.
Medical sources said troops fired a tank shell near the Shejaiya neighborhood, which lies close to the border with Israel, leaving one Palestinian in critical condition and two others moderately wounded.Gaza health official Ashraf el-Kidra confirmed the injuries of three Palestinians, but sources could not immediately confirm if they were fighters or civilians.
The Israeli army said it targeted a "Hamas terrorist squad," but this could not be independently verified.
"The squad was in position to launch an anti-tank missile at IDF soldiers performing routine activity near the security fence," a statement said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. "A hit was confirmed."
Israel often claims to be targeting Palestinian fighters, but their attacks frequently hit civilian centers in Gaza.
Earlier this week, Palestinian fighters in Gaza fired an anti-aircraft missile at southern Israel, damaging a building and several vehicles, in what the army described as a "very rare incident."
Unrest in and around Gaza flared up last month, with Israel launching a series of military strikes on the Hamas-held territory, which lasted for six days, killing 15 Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy.
In a rare show of force, Hamas launched dozens of rockets into Israel during the clashes in response to the strikes.
(Al-Akhbar, AFP, AP)
Meanwhile the Zionist entity announced on Wednesd
ay it would deploy a battery of Iron Dome rocket interceptors in an area near the southern city of Eilat close to the Egyptian border.
ay it would deploy a battery of Iron Dome rocket interceptors in an area near the southern city of Eilat close to the Egyptian border.An Israeli military spokeswoman said the battery "will be placed near Eilat as part of an operational deployment program which includes changing the locations of the batteries from time to time."
An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the interceptors were set up near Eilat on Monday.
Iron Dome, a system produced locally with U.S. funding, uses radar-guided missiles to blow up Katyusha-style rockets with ranges of 5-70 km (3-45 miles) and mortar bombs in mid-air.
Israeli media said it was the first time the battery was being deployed along the Egyptian border.
River to Sea
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