Israeli forces kill four in raids

GAZA - Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, at least one of them a militant, during separate operations in the Gaza Strip and West Bank yesterday, witnesses said.

They said two Israeli air strikes around the Gaza town of Khan Younis killed two men, while another died in a separate incident nearby. In the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, witnesses said undercover Israeli commandos killed a member of the militant group Islamic Jihad when he tried to evade arrest.

Israel has been pressing an offensive in the Gaza Strip since the abduction of a soldier, Gilad Shalit, on June 25 by a group of militants, including members of the governing Islamic faction Hamas. During the offensive, at least 209 Palestinians have been killed, about half of them civilians.

- REUTERS