Israeli army kills three Palestinians in clashes

GAZA - Israeli forces shot and killed a father and his son when they raided a house in the Gaza Strip overnight (NZ time), and a third Palestinian was killed by troops near a Gaza border crossing, medics and witnesses said.

In the first incident, witnesses said Israeli troops backed by helicopters entered the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun and engaged in heavy clashes with Palestinian gunmen there.

Residents said the operation targeted the house of a member of Hamas. A Palestinian father and his son were killed and at least four others were wounded, medics said.

The army said two gunmen opened fire on Israeli forces from within the building, prompting troops to return fire.

A spokesman added that two Hamas militants wanted for firing rockets into Israel and setting off explosives were also arrested by Israeli special forces from the house.

The house was later demolished by an army bulldozer, residents said.

At the same time, Israeli air strikes in a nearby part of Beit Hanoun wounded three Palestinians, two of them children, with shrapnel, medics said.

In the second incident, the Israeli army said it had shot a man south of the Kisufim border crossing in central Gaza overnight. They said the man looked like he intended to infiltrate Israel. Palestinian medics recovered the body.

The deaths were the latest in an eight-week Israeli offensive in Gaza that started after militants abducted an Israeli soldier in a raid. More than 200 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, have been killed during the offensive.

As well as seeking to recover the captured soldier, the operation is aimed at preventing militants from firing makeshift rockets into Israel from northern Gaza. Rocket fire has resumed sporadically in recent days.

Israel pulled troops and around 8,000 settlers out of Gaza in August last year after 38 years of occupation.

- REUTERS