5 Palestinians killed in Israeli firing

GAZA CITY: Five Palestinians, two of them teenagers, were killed by Israeli fire in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday as Israeli troops pressed a major incursion, Palestinian hospital officials said.

Houda al-Nouri, 45, her son Omar, 17, and her daughter Kiffah, 15, died when an Israeli tank shell slammed into their home near the Egyptian border town of Rafah, the officials said.

Two armed militants were also killed in two separate Israeli air strikes in the area, the officials added. Mohammed al-Khawajih, 23, belonged to the military wing of the hardline Islamic Jihad group, Sharif Ayyash, 23, to that of the governing Islamist movement Hamas.

The Israeli Army has been involved in a major incursion around Rafah since early Thursday in which a total of 16 Palestinians have been killed. 

An Israeli Army spokesman said: "Four armed terrorists were hit by army fire in two separate incidents in the Rafah sector.

"More than 35 Palestinian terrorists have been eliminated in army operations in the Gaza Strip over the past 48 hours," the spokesman added.

At least 168 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have died in the Israeli offensive launched June 28 to recover an Israeli soldier seized by Palestinian militants three days earlier and to end rocket fire on southern Israel.