Israeli Operations in Gaza Leave 8 Dead

Israeli forces killed eight people in separate operations in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian officials said, as militants fired several rockets into southern Israel.

Six people were killed in the southern Gaza Strip during an Israeli operation early in the day near the town of Khan Yunis.

At least three of those killed in the clashes were identified as fighters belonging to the military wing of Hamas, the ruling Palestinian movement. The others were bystanders, including a man and his 13-year-old son, who were from the same extended family as the slain militants, neighbors said.

Two people, including a 2-year-old girl, died Thursday night during an Israeli airstrike on a house on the eastern edge of Gaza City, Palestinian officials said.

The strike, which targeted the home of Ashraf Farwana, a senior Hamas militant, also killed his 38-year-old brother, Ayman. Israeli officials said Ashraf Farwana had been involved in attacks against Israel and was making and distributing weapons to Hamas militants.

The eight fatalities marked the highest one-day death toll stemming from Israeli military actions in more than a month. At least 13 Palestinians were wounded in the Khan Yunis clashes and seven others were hurt in the evening airstrike in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood, hospital officials in Khan Yunis and Gaza City said.

Hamas responded to the morning raid by firing at least six Kassam rockets toward Israel, and four made it over the border, the Israeli army said. The rocket salvos caused no injuries and only minor damage to farms, the military said.

The Israeli operation began before dawn Thursday in the village of Abasan, just outside Khan Yunis.

An Israeli spokeswoman said troops were searching for cross-border tunnels and “any kind of terror threat.” But Palestinian officials said they suspected that the Israelis were after a Hamas militant living in the area.

The army said soldiers shot at Palestinian gunmen who had fired on them with rifles and antitank missiles. The spokeswoman said the troops believed they had struck gunmen during at least three separate encounters.

Later, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a group of armed men who approached the soldiers on the ground, the military said. Palestinians said the missile killed the three militants, all from the Qudeh clan, and that a second projectile hit a house, killing the man and his son.

Israel has conducted sporadic raids since launching a broad incursion into the Gaza Strip after militants killed two soldiers and captured a third by tunneling under the border June 25. Hamas claimed partial responsibility for the cross-border raid.

The fate of the abducted soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, remains unknown. Mediation efforts to win his release as part of a prisoner exchange with Israel have so far failed.

The military operations since June have left more than 200 Palestinians dead.

Hamas is locked in a power struggle with the once-dominant Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Negotiations over a coalition government have bogged down over Hamas’ refusal to recognize Israel.

Abbas and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh last month said they had agreed on an alliance. But the deal unraveled, and clashes last week between the two factions left 10 dead and ratcheted up a feeling of lawlessness on the streets of the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

On Thursday, a 30-year-old Palestinian intelligence officer died after being wounded in a shooting in Gaza City. Last month, gunmen in Gaza killed Jad Tayeh, a ranking Palestinian intelligence officer.

ken.ellingwood@latimes.com

Special correspondent Rushdi abu Alouf in Gaza City contributed to this report.