Gaza: Israel kills 23, targets Hamas commanders

Gaza, Jul 12: Israel killed at least 23 Palestinians in Gaza today, including nine members of one family in an air strike that destroyed a house where the army said senior Hamas commanders were meeting, witnesses said.

Today's death toll was the highest in a single day since Israel on June 28 launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip to force militants to free an abducted soldier and halt rocket attacks on the Jewish state.

It was also the highest number of Palestinian deaths in one day since September 2004.

A series of deadly Israel air raids coincided with an armoured sweep into the central Gaza.

The army said the strike on the three-storey house near Gaza City wounded Mohammad Deif, overall leader of the governing Hamas movement's armed wing and Israel's most wanted man.

Senior Palestinian sources said Deif appeared to suffer spinal injuries.

But a spokesman for Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades denied Deif was hurt.

The group took part in the capture of Corporal Galid Shalit on June 25, prompting Israel to launch its first ground operations in Gaza since quitting the territory last year.

The air strike killed a local Hamas leader, Nabil Abu Selmeya, his wife and seven sons and daughters aged Seven to 19, medics said.

His eldest son, who was not at home, survived.

A later Israeli air strike using two missiles killed at least five other Palestinians, aged 15 to 20, in central Gaza.

Palestinian medics said Israel's air raids and tank shelling had killed a total of 23 people on Wednesday, including militants and one policeman.

The Gaza offensive has killed nearly 80 Palestinians and one soldier, piling pressure on the Hamas government, already reeling from a Western aid embargo.

In a statement, Hamas said Israel ''should be prepared for a tough and open-ended confrontation that knows no limitations and no red lines''.

REUTERS

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