Three people killed, nine injured in an Israeli air strike on southern Gaza

Thursday December 27, 2007 17:43 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC

Three Palestinians have been killed and nine others wounded after Israeli war planes launched an air strike on southern Gaza Strip.

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Dr. Moawiya Aabu Hasianin, chief of emergency room at the health ministry, identified the killed as Hani Abu Eid and Haytham Abu Al'ola, of the Khan Younis city in southern Gaza .

Abu Hasanin said that five others have been wounded including one critically, as bodies of the wounded have been sustaining burns, 'apparently due to use of fletchet'.

Sources at the Islamic Jihad group confirmed one of its armed wing's members, called Mohammad aL-Masri, was killed during the air strike.

Witnesses said that an Israeli warplane fired at least one missile at a position in Khan Younis, believed to be linked to the ruling Hamas movement.

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks rolled into the southern Gaza Strip village of Faraheen in Khan Younis city, as bulldozers demolished a three-storey house, owned by Ahmad Abu Tair.

Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, stated yesterday that his army would step up attacks on Palestinian resistance groups, 'within Israel's continued crackdown on homemade shells launchers'.

Israeli army has killed over the past week at least 20 Palestinians, majority were resistance fighters of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as Gaza is being declared by Israel as a 'hostile entity' since September.

Israel has been placing Gaza under strict closure since June, when Hamas took over the coastal region, with at least 100 people killed during frequent Israeli army attacks on Gaza's 1.4-million-strong-population.

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