An Israeli drone killed four Palestinian militants in eastern Gaza city on Sunday morning as Israel extended closure of crossing points for the 12th day in a row, witnesses and medical sources said.
The witnesses said an Israeli drone fired a missile towards the group of fighters who apparently were preparing to launch a home-made rocket into Israel.
Medical sources said the bodies of the four arrived at al-Shifa hospital and were cut into pieces with burns.
The group belongs to the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a military group loyal to Islamic Hamas movement which controls Gaza Strip and observes a ceasefire with Israel.
The bodies of two Palestinian militants lay near a mortar launcher after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza November 16, 2008. An Israeli air strike killed four Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and two rockets fired from the Hamas-controlled territory hit Israel as a five-month-old ceasefire continued to unravel. The Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, which took effect in June, was left near collapse since a wave of violence erupted on November 4.The latest air strike brings to 14 the number of Palestinians killed in the violence in addition to 2 others who died when a rocket exploded before they launch it into Israel.
Meanwhile, Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the PRC, vowed to respond to the Israeli escalation. "For us, the lull is over and we won't renew it... we will respond in every time and every place," he said.
Earlier in the morning, two rockets landed into Western Negev of Israel, according to Israeli sources.
Hamas fired tens of rockets over the past days, including Grad missiles, in response to the Israeli air strikes that mostly targeted Hamas militants. The violence started when Israeli forces suddenly rolled into central Gaza Strip and a Hamas fighter was killed while engaging the invading forces.
Since then, Israel sealed off crossing points into Gaza, forcing its only power plant to shut down due to lack of fuel. The United Nations refugee agency, the UNRWA, also halted aid distributions to 750,000 Palestinians on Friday after its storage facilities ran out of food.
The ceasefire calls on Israel to ease Gaza blockade in exchange for halting Palestinian rocket attacks and cross-border violence.
Source:Xinhua
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