Khan Younis - Ma‘an - In a ground incursion and in airstrikes, the Israeli army has killed eleven Palestinians, early on Wednesday morning in the Gaza Strip.
Tanks invaded the southern Gaza Strip, east of Khan Younis, while Israeli fighter jets bombarded eastern Gaza City, in the north of the strip. Israeli troops also invaded Gaza City.
9 deaths in Gaza City
Our Gaza correspondent reported director of emergencies in Gaza City‘s Shifa Hospital, Dr Muawiya Hassanein, as stating that two Palestinians, named as Nafiz Mahmoud Hillis, 27, and Ahmad Ayyad Hillis, 18, were killed in armed clashes with Israeli troops in eastern Gaza City.
The two men were members of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah.
An airstrike on the Shaja‘iyya neighbourhood of east Gaza City killed Ra‘ed Fannouna, from the Al Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad‘s military wing.
Our Gaza correspondent said that Israel warplanes and helicopters launched a strike in the area, killing Fannouna as he was travelling in his car at around 9am. Three other Gazans were injured in the strike.
Israeli tanks also shelled the Shaja‘iyya area, killing Anan Ar‘er, 25, a member of Hamas‘ armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades. Clashes erupted between Palestinian armed men and Israeli forces in the same area.
According to Palestinian medical sources, three other Palestinian civilians were also killed in the airstrike on Shaja‘iyya. They were named as Hazim Ziad Jundiyah, 25; Deib Said Jundiyah, 9; and Yousef Manasra, in his twenties. Sami Manasra, 29, from the Islamic Jihad-affiliated Al Quds Brigades was also killed.
Another man, Zakaria At Tatar, also died on Wednesday from wounds he sustained two days ago when Israeli forces attempted to assassinate him in the northern Gaza Strip. He was a member of the Al Quds Brigades in the area.
4 killed in clashes in southern Gaza
In the south of the strip, three activists from Islamic Jihad‘s armed wing were killed and three others injured, during an Israeli military incursion. One other Palestinian man was killed and many other Gazans were also injured, our Khan Younis correspondent reported.
Diyaa Abu Daqqa and Hussam Abu Ta‘eimah from the Al Quds Brigades were killed, and three other Al Quds members were injured, after dozens of Israeli tanks penetrated the area of Khuza‘a and Abasan at dawn amid intense shooting, the correspondent added. Armed clashes broke out during which the two men were killed.
Mahmoud Ash Sha‘er, another member of the Al Quds Brigades, was killed when a bombing device exploded in Khan Younis.
A fourth man, Mahmoud Abdul-Fattah, 25, was also killed by Israeli forces in Khan Younis.
In a statement, the Al Quds Brigades said they are mourning Abu Daqqa, adding that the blood of "every martyr will enforce the brigades".
Armed groups affiliated to both Fatah and Hamas engaged in gun battles with the invading Israeli forces, according to statements from the Fatah-affiliated Al Buraq Army and the Hamas-affiliated Al Qassam Brigades.
The Buraq Army claimed that the fighting resulted in Israeli casualties and injuries. The Al Qassam Brigades also claimed to have shot an Israeli soldier east of Khuza‘a.
The Al Quds Brigades, meanwhile, claimed to have fired a projectile towards the southern Israeli town of Sderot in retaliation for the assignation of both Ra‘ed Fannouna and Diyaa Abu Daqqa.
200 taken for interrogation
In Khuza’a, located east of Khan Younis, eyewitnesses said that the Israeli forces arrested around 200 Palestinians and took them to a military post, south of the town. They are reportedly currently undergoing interrogation.
The witnesses added that the Israeli forces bulldozed dozens of dunums (thousands of metres²) of agricultural land in the area.
Some Israeli journalists have speculated that the rise in the death toll in this incursion relative to recent invasions of Gaza is due to the new appointment of Ehud Barak as minister of defence.
**updated 13:00, 27 June 07