Gaza City: Seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops today in the latest army operation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, medics and witnesses said.

At least two of the victims were militants, they said. The identities of the other five were not immediately known.

The victims were hit in the neighbourhood of Al-Zeitun in eastern Gaza City during an operation in which there was heavy exchange of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants.

At least 17 other Palestinians, both militants and civilians, were wounded as a result, they said.

An army spokeswoman said the troops opened fire on a group of armed Palestinians and a car with armed men during the operation. "The soldiers identified hitting 10 armed men," she said.

Israeli tanks were also carrying out another operation near the town of Beit Hanun in the north of the Gaza Strip, witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of wounded.

The Israeli army launches near-daily air and ground raids in Gaza aiming to stop the near-daily firing of rockets and mortars from the territory into Israel.

Since the two sides formally relaunched peace talks in late November at a US conference, more than 100 Palestinians, the majority of them militants, have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza, according to an AFP count.

Today s deaths bring to 6,056 the number of people killed since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000,the vast majority of them Palestinians, according to an AFP tally.
Source : PTI