Thousands of Palestinians on Thursday participated in funerals of the 12 people killed a day ago in a series of Israeli air and ground strikes in Gaza City and northern Gaza Strip.
In Gaza City, a radical Palestinian group the Army of Islam bid farewell to five members died Wednesday when a missile hit their pick-up in the city.
Wrapped in white shrouds with Islamic slogans written in black, fighters from the Army of Islam held the coffins on their shoulders and strictly encircled them, preventing photojournalists from filming freely.
The gunmen also repeatedly fired during the ceremony though the Islamic Hamas movement, which administrates the Gaza Strip, bans firing in the air in funerals or weddings.
It is the first time that members of the Army of Islam appear in public. The group was first heard about on June 25, 2006 when participated with Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) in capturing an Israeli soldier.
The Army of Islam was also behind the kidnapping of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reporter in Gaza, Alan Johnston, in March 2007.
In Beit Hanoun town, a border town in northern Gaza, the residents also took part in the funeral of five people killed when a shell landed near a house.
Some of the slain were militants taking refuge near the house where Israel sent ground forces.
Two militants who wounded in the air strikes have died early in the morning due to the severe injuries they sustained.
During the funerals, participants shouted slogans against recent meetings between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert.
Source: Xinhua
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