Gaza City: Israeli forces today launched air strikes and a ground raid on Gaza, trading fire with gunmen in clashes that killed seven Palestinians including a 12-year-old boy, Palestinians said.

The deaths drove the Palestinian death toll to 15 in Israeli strikes retaliating for a militant attack that killed two Israeli civilians at a vital Gaza fuel depot on April nine.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has pledged to keep hitting Hamas so that it cannot "continue to operate against Israeli civilians as it does."

There were no signs, however, of any impending major ground offensive by Israel.

Israeli aircraft killed two Hamas militants in a strike on southern Gaza early today, the group said. The Israeli military confirmed the attack, saying it targeted gunmen near the Gaza-Israel border fence.

Israeli troops crossed into central Gaza and clashed with gunmen in the area. A 12-year-old boy was fatally shot in the stomach and six other Palestinians were wounded, medics said.

Later in the day Israeli forces fired at a group of Palestinian militants operating near a farm in central Gaza, killing four people and wounding several, including children, witnesses and doctors said. It was not immediately clear how many of the casualties were gunmen and how many were bystanders.

The army confirmed troops were operating in Gaza, and that aircraft had struck, but said it did not know anything about the death of the boy.

Source : PTI