Two killed in latest Israeli incursion in Gaza

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Israeli troops killed two Palestinians on Wednesday in the Gaza Strip during their latest incursion in the territory controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, officials said.

Gunfire exchanges erupted between the soldiers and militants after more than a dozen Israeli armoured vehicles and two bulldozers penetrated about 500 metres (yards) into the coastal strip near the northern town of Beit Lahiya, witnesses and medics said. The battle left two Palestinians dead and three wounded, including one seriously, medics said, without providing details.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) group said in a statement that one of its fighters, 22-year-old Saad Sabah, was killed. The army said its troops had "hit" two gunmen during "an operation against terror infrastructure in the northern Gaza Strip."

"The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) identified two gunmen firing at the troops, fired back and identified hitting them," a spokesman said. Hamas took control over the Gaza Strip on June 15 after it overran forces loyal to moderate president Mahmud Abbas following a week of bloody street battles.