Two Palestinians killed in Israeli operations in N. Gaza

Two Palestinians were killed and five others injured at predawn on October 3 as an Israeli army fired tank shells at a house in eastern Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics and witnesses reported.

The sources said that the Israeli tanks, which are stationed at al Sekka road east of the refugee camp, fired two tank shells at a house in Block 4 behind an elementary school, in which two Palestinians were killed and five were injured.

The Israeli army claimed that the two were militants and were hiding behind the house to carry out an attack against the soldiers. However, Palestinians said that one of the two killed is a son of the house owner.

On Saturday night, dozens of Israeli army tanks and armored vehicles were sent to northern Gaza Strip area to support the Israeli army division that has been operating into the area since Tuesday night.

Palestinian security sources said that 30 tanks and vehicles that were stationed near the village of Beit Hanoun moved towards Jabalya refugee camp backed by Apache attack helicopters.

Palestinian witnesses and security sources said that helicopters fired intensive gunfire from heavy machineguns to clean up the roads for the tanks to move on, where bulldozers razed Palestinian lands to prepare it for tanks to stay in the area.

A tightened closure was imposed on Gaza Strip for five consecutive days, where the Israeli army has divided it into three isolated areas, where people are barred from moving from one town to another in northern, central and southern Gaza.

Since the beginning of the large-scale operation into northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Palestinian medics said that more than 60 people were killed and more than 250 were injured, in addition to the demolition of several houses.

Source: Xinhua