Israeli army snipers seizing roofs of several buildings in eastern Gaza City shot dead two Palestinians Wednesday afternoon, Palestinian witnesses and medical sources said.

Witnesses said that Israeli forces have been carrying out a ground offensive into the eastern part of Sheja'eya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, and Israeli army snipers on roofs of the houses shot at any moving object.

They said that Israeli soldiers shot at and killed a 15-year- old boy, and local residents could hardly manage to pick up the boy's body from the area amid intensive gunfire.

They said that a 28-year-old Palestinian was also shot dead near his house in the neighborhood, adding that another Palestinian was critically wounded.

Palestinian doctors said that since the beginning of Israeli ground offensives on the neighborhood at predawn on Sunday, 17 Palestinians, 14 of them militants, have been killed and more than 30 others injured.

The Israeli army said that the aim of the operation in the eastern part of Gaza City was to search for underground tunnels near the border with Israel used by Palestinian militants to carry out attacks and kidnap Israeli soldiers.

Source: Xinhua