Israeli raids kill eight Gazans in 24 hours

AFP

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - A series of Israeli air strikes on Gaza over a 24-hour period killed eight Palestinians and injured 30, a spokesman for the emergency services told AFP on Thursday.

Adham Abu Selmiya, a spokesman for Gaza's emergency services said eight people had been killed in a series of raids across the strip which ended before dawn on Thursday.

Among the dead, at least two were Islamic Jihad militants.

The first attack on Wednesday hit a car in the southern city of Rafah, killing 34-year old Jihad militant Ismail al-Ismar.

Later, medics found the body of Ismail Amum, a 65-year-old civilian who was killed during an earlier raid near Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

During the evening, the air force struck a target in Gaza City, killing another Jihad militant, 20-year-old Atiya Muqat; one more strike on Rafah killed Hisham Abu Har, a civilian working inside the cross-border smuggling tunnels.

Early Thursday morning, an air strike on a sports hall in the northern town of Beit Lahiya killed civilian Salam al-Masri, and injured another 20, one critically.

Several hours later, 22-year-old Adnan al-Jakhbir, a civilian who was critically injured in Beit Lahiya, died of his injuries, the ambulance service told AFP.

During the afternoon, medics in Rafah pulled two more bodies from the wreckage of tunnels which were hit overnight, it said, naming the victims as Imad Abu Harb, 32, and Rajaa al-Sabhani, 19. Both were understood to be civilians working in the tunnels.

Over the same 24 hour period, Gaza militants fired 19 rockets and mortars into southern Israel, lightly injuring an infant, the military said.

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