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Mourners carrying the body of a Palestinian killed during an IDF raid in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. (Reuters)
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Last update - 23:41 14/08/2007
Six Palestinians killed in IDF raid in southern Gaza Strip
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and News Agencies

Six Palestinians were killed and 32 were wounded during ongoing Israel Defense Forces operations on Tuesday in the southern Gaza Strip.

Two of those killed in the raid were Hamas militants and two were civilians. It was not immediately clear whether the remaining two fatalities were armed militants or civilians, although initial reports suggested they were militants.

An IDF soldier was lightly wounded during clashes, and evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva.

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Hamas said one of its men, 24-year-old Mohammed abu Masamah, died in a pre-dawn air strike, east of the town of Khan Yunis. A second, Omer Al-Qara, was killed along with his 60-year-old mother Sabha when ground troops fired at their house.

A second civilian, according to Palestinian sources, was shot dead by soldiers when he went out onto the roof of his house. He was named as 38-year-old Ibrahim al-Shami.

The additional fatalities were identified as 18-year-old Ahmed Al-Qara and 20-year-old Musab Abu Jame'a.

Later, an IAF aircraft struck a group of Islamic Jihad militants as they exited a car in Khan Yunis.

Army Radio reported that troops were rounding up all local males above the age of 16 and interrogating them for information on militants. Some 100 people were arrested.

An IDF statement also said that air strikes were directed at armed militants in four separate incidents, while troops on the ground were carrying out arrests. The strikes hit their targets on each occasion.

During the clash in the mostly residential area, Hamas said its militants fired assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at soldiers.

Witnesses said tanks responded with machinegun fire and IDF snipers shot at the militants from rooftops. IAF planes fired two missiles that wounded seven gunmen, they said.

An IDF spokesman also said the operation was carried out to try to find a suspected militant tunnel network in Gaza and to prevent Qassam rocket attacks that hit the western Negev regularly.

Soldiers discovered a bomb and an explosive belt during the raid, the army said.

Also Tuesday, four Palestinians slipped into Israel through the heavily guarded Israel-Gaza border fence, the army said. It was the second such infiltration in two days. Four suspects were apprehended and questioned, IDF sources said.

It was not immediately clear if the Palestinians were militants or civilians looking for work in Israel.

Meanwhile, a Qassam rocket was fired from the northern Gaza Strip toward Israel and landed in an open field in the western Negev. No one was hurt and no damage was caused.

IDF troops also arrested 13 wanted militants in the West Bank overnight Tuesday.
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  1.   Good job, "Thus shell perish all your enemies Israel" 05:36  |  Man deVoshkes 14/08/07
  2.   Keep up the good work, IDF 05:37  |  Murray of Montreal 14/08/07
  3.   Haaretz chickens out on Arafat`s AIDS! no talkback!! 05:42  |  Mufasa 14/08/07
  4.   #3 Mufaza: The main sin of your Arafat is not AIDS, HIV related.. 06:39  |  Vittorio 14/08/07
  5.   Slow Progress on Eradicating Terrorists 06:46  |  G.Khan 14/08/07
  6.   hey abbas how about you talk now? 07:05  |  vik 14/08/07
  7.   Will their ever be peace in the Middle East? 09:01  |  Adel 14/08/07
  8.   Thank you the soldiers of the IDF for protecting Israel and the 09:06  |  Avihu 14/08/07
  9.   Why they come to Gaza 09:10  |  Fares 14/08/07
  10.   Well done, IDF 09:18  |  KUTW 14/08/07
  11.   Dont play with fire 09:42  |  indrajaya 14/08/07
  12.   Vampires 09:46  |  Nader 14/08/07
  13.   not a fair fite 09:52  |  Caine 14/08/07
  14.   Indrajaya @ 4 10:28  |  ChanahS 14/08/07
  15.   Caine and Nader 10:32  |  ChanahS 14/08/07
  16.   No thing new for your savage & barbarism 10:42  |  Jozeif 14/08/07
  17.   IDF in Gaza 10:44  |  Marcos 14/08/07
  18.   Indrayoyo 10:57  |  Infidel Too 14/08/07
  19.   to jozeif Goebbels #9 10:58  |  Kusamek 14/08/07
  20.   Marcos # 11 11:05  |  ChanahS 14/08/07
  21.   More Israeli Terrorism Against the Palestinians 11:12  |  Dutch 14/08/07
  22.   Indra #5{ Isaelis don`t play with fire, your jihad brethren do. 11:17  |  Vittorio 14/08/07
  23.   Involvement . 11:20  |  David Palmer 14/08/07
  24.   You are wrong. Period. 11:21  |  indrajaya 14/08/07
  25.   Dont talk to Hamas 11:23  |  Pancasila 14/08/07
  26.   To Nader #5 11:24  |  Moti 14/08/07
  27.   More Shameful & immoral Killing of Palestinians 11:28  |  Dutch 14/08/07
  28.   Dutch 11:28  |  Vittorio 14/08/07
  29.   terrorist state 11:55  |  ralph 14/08/07
  30.   The Settlements. 12:04  |  David Palmer 14/08/07
  31.   nader at #9 12:04  |  scanadu 14/08/07
  32.   you really want peace...? 12:10  |  ravi 14/08/07
  33.   you really want peace? 12:15  |  ravi 14/08/07
  34.   27...david your voice doesnt count 12:31  |  ravi 14/08/07
  35.   End the Occupation!It`s obvious israel does not want Peace,it 12:32  |  lakshmi 14/08/07
  36.   ravi at#30 12:38  |  scanadu 14/08/07
  37.   To Nader...vanpires?...we only love kep chup 12:45  |  soldier 14/08/07
  38.   Ravi&Laksmi :End the occupation of Kashmir before ranting here 12:49  |  Absolute Sweden 14/08/07
  39.   LAKSHMI`S PRE=OCCUPATION 13:09  |  Brant 14/08/07
  40.   What "human shield"? 13:18  |  Adam Keller 14/08/07
  41.   #27 DORIS PLAYS THE PHONOGRAPH ONCE MORE 13:27  |  paul harris 14/08/07
  42.   #13 - fair fight 13:28  |  Michael 14/08/07
  43.   #27 - get on with their lives... 13:34  |  Michael 14/08/07
  44.   IDF kills 70 year old lady 13:35  |  Henry 14/08/07
  45.   IDF leads in civilian deaths 13:38  |  Natallie Durson 14/08/07
  46.   #35 Lakshmi, The Israelis are nothing but trouble makers... 13:39  |  Dutch 14/08/07
  47.   Golanis 13:55  |  Chris 14/08/07
  48.   ChanaS 13:55  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 14/08/07
  49.   Another border violation including murder 14:02  |  Tim 14/08/07
  50.   murder a la Gestapo 14:17  |  mehmet 14/08/07
  51.   #44 "you jews are most sneaky people on earth" 14:26  |  Murray of Montreal 14/08/07
  52.   Channah # 20 (qassams) 14:29  |  Guido 14/08/07
  53.   #49 Another border violation including murder 14:39  |  Murray of Montreal 14/08/07
  54.   #50 mehmet: Remember Armenians murdered by your ancestors. What 14:43  |  Vittorio 14/08/07
  55.   to Natallie Durson#45 14:44  |  Ilya 14/08/07
  56.   More of this is needed...expose the human shield use 15:09  |  The Equalizer 14/08/07
  57.   Indrajaya, right as allways! 15:10  |  Terminator 14/08/07
  58.   Natallie`s lack of logic 15:12  |  Ehud 14/08/07
  59.   TIMES HAVE CHANGED 15:13  |  Ian 14/08/07
  60.   Thanks Terminator 15:28  |  indrajaya 14/08/07
  61.   To ChanahS@14 15:42  |  Supporter 14/08/07
  62.   Mehmet & Germanic ways 15:47  |  Moshe Cohen 14/08/07
  63.   Israstan`s killing field 15:49  |  Dav 14/08/07
  64.   Israstan`s killing field 2 15:51  |  Dav 14/08/07
  65.   46Dutch,agreed,and the puzzling thing is how and why a people who 15:55  |  lakshmi 14/08/07
  66.   End of available informants and easy information 15:58  |  Tosefta 14/08/07
  67.   # 6 15:58  |  Outsider 14/08/07
  68.   #45 Durson; Please give credit where credit is due. 16:04  |  Murray of Montreal 14/08/07
  69.   Mehmet #50 16:06  |  Eric 14/08/07
  70.   #53 Not that easy 16:08  |  Outsider 14/08/07
  71.   Good job, IDF & IAF! 16:09  |  Israel`s kavod 14/08/07
  72.   Margie@ 48 16:09  |  ChanahS 14/08/07
  73.   IDF hard at work 16:11