Violence continues in Gaza
August 23, 2014
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra said the three were killed in a house in the Nusseirat camp by Israeli airstrikes, according to medics and witnesses early Saturday.
Hostilities between Israel and Hamas in Gaza resumed on Tuesday after Egyptian-brokered truce talks collapsed. Israel accused Hamas militants of breaching the five-day ceasefire by firing rockets across the border hours before the deadline expired.
A 4-year-old Israeli boy was killed by a Gaza mortar on Friday, bringing the total number of Israeli civilian casualties to four. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he expressed his condolences and vowed that Hamas would pay a "heavy price," for the attack.
On Friday, Hamas militants killed 18 people in Gaza suspected of working as informants for the Israelis, local media reported. The reports come one day after Israel killed three top Hamas military commanders in an airstrike that was likely guided by collaborators. The three Hamas leaders that were killed have been identified as Mohammed Abu Shamaleh, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Barhoum.
At least 2,095 Palestinians have been killed since Israel's air and ground offensive began in early July. The United Nations has identified 70 percent of these casualties as civilians. At least 68 people have died on the Israeli side, all but four of them soldiers.
hc/av (AFP, AP, dpa)