Last update - 00:00 15/11/2007
Officials: Two militants killed, 5 hurt, in IDF strike on Gaza Strip
By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
Israel Defense Forces troops opened fire Thursday on a car carrying militants in northern Gaza, killing two and injuring five, militants and a health official said.
The attack on Beit Hanoun came after Palestinian militants fired three rockets and two mortar shells toward the western Negev town of Sderot. One of the rockets caused extensive damage to a house and vehicles. Two people were treated for shock.
Another rocket at hit a factory in Sha'ar Hanegev, damaging a building. Several people were treated for shock.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, saying it fired 10 rockets Thursday by midday.
One of the dead militants was identified as a member of Al-Aqsa. The affiliation of the second militant was not immediately known.
The IDF said its ground forces struck a group of rocket launchers about to fire toward Israeli towns.
An Israel Air Force aircraft later Thursday struck an electricity transformer in Beit Hanoun, causing no casualties. But power was knocked out to about 5,000 people in the area, according to Said Hamad, from
the Beit Hanoun town council.
The army said it was going after the same rocket squad hit in the original attack.
An IDF soldier was lightly wounded Wednesday morning by Palestinian fire near the Erez Crossing on the Gaza Strip border. He was taken to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for medical treatment.
Earlier Wednesday, two Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip struck Sderot. Those rockets caused no damage or injuries.
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