Gaza City, June 27: Three Palestinians, including an armed militant belonging to a group linked to Fatah, were killed during an Israeli incursion into southern Gaza City today when troops moved in to arrest a wanted member of the radical Hamas group. Mohammed Abu al-Taya, a Palestinian in his 20s who belonged to the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah group, was shot dead during clashes with the army in the southern al-Moraka district of Gaza City.
Mohammed al-Ghoul, 24, was crushed to death when Israeli troops demolished his family home while seeking to arrest his father, Adnan al-Ghoul, a senior member of Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas sources announced over loudspeakers in the nearby Nusseirat refugee camp. The body of his uncle, Imran al-Ghoul was also found trapped under the rubble of the family house in Gaza City's southern al-Moraka district, medical sources and the family said.
It was not initially clear whether he had been shot dead during clashes with the Army or crushed to death when the building was demolished, they said. Fierce clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen after Israeli forces surrounded al-Ghoul's house, medical sources and witnesses said.
More than 10 tanks backed by two helicopters, moved more than a kilometre into the al-Moraka district shortly after a large explosion rocked an Israeli tank in the area. Bureau Report