Israeli troops arrest dozens Palestinians in operation in Gaza(1)

    GAZA, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Israeli army troops arrested scores of Palestinians during an incursion into southern Gaza city of Kahn Younis Tuesday afternoon, hours after the killing of four people in the offensive.

Mourners carry the body of Ibraheem al-Shami, a member of Fatah movement who was killed by Israeli troops, in the southern Gaza strip August 14, 2007. Israeli ground forces killed four Palestinians on Tuesday when they clashed with militants during a raid on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the Islamist group and hospital officials said. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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    The Israeli operation started at midnight are still going on as the Israeli helicopters fired at a group of Islamic Jihad (Holy War) militants in al-Qarara neighborhood of eastern Khan Younis this afternoon, wounding three of them, local residents said.

    They added that Israeli army took away tens of residents for interrogation amid the operation.

    Witnesses said the detainees were moved by trucks towards the Israeli territories.

    So far, the operation has killed four Palestinians, including two Hamas militants.

    The first casualty was recorded three hours after midnight when helicopter gunships killed a Hamas militant.

    The Israeli sniper gunfire led to the other three deaths, including another Hamas member and his mother.

    Meanwhile, a number of injuries were left bleeding as the heavy Israeli fire prevented the ambulances from reaching them, said the witnesses.

    Israeli operation in Gaza encountered the resistance from the Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and a Fatah military wing.

    Hamas, which seized Gaza after defeating rival Fatah in June, said in a statement that its members fired a rocket propelled grenade on an Israeli tank "and hit it directly."

    The PRC said in a separate statement that its sniper targeted an Israeli soldier "and the soldier was seen falling from the tank on his face."

    In a third statement, Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said two of its members were injured during their armed clashes with an Israeli special force.

Some Palestinian people look at a hole on a building bombarded by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, 24 July 2007. A rocket slammed into the building as the Israeli air strike wounded at least five Palestinians in Gaza City on Tuesday. (Xinhua Photo)
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Two Hamas members killed, six wounded in fresh Gaza clashes

    GAZA, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Two members of Hamas executive security force were killed and six wounded on Tuesday night during clashes with an armed Gaza clan in southern Gaza, witnesses and medical sources said.

    Witnesses said Hamas executive security force stormed Sabra neighborhood where Doghmosh clan lives to detain people involved in stealing cars.

Three more bodies found after Israeli army withdrew from Gaza

    GAZA, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian paramedics found three more corpses after Israeli troops withdrew from southeastern Gaza Strip Tuesday afternoon, raising the total death toll during the 18-hour military operation to seven.

    At least two of the newly found bodies belonged to Hamas' military wing and the identity of the third was yet unknown, hospital officials said.

An Israeli infantry soldier walks out of Gaza following an operation on the Israeli-Gaza border near Kerem Shalom, in southern Israel, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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An Isreali tank heads to the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis in Aug. 14, 2007.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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