Israel destroys Gaza homes after warning residents

Gaza, Aug 10: Israeli warplanes destroyed the homes of two Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip today after residents said they received telephone calls from the military warning them to evacuate.

Neither militant -- one a member of the Islamic Jihad and the other of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- nor their relatives were hurt in the air strikes on Beit Hanoun, a town on Gaza's northern border with Israel that has seen intense fighting during a more than 5-year-old Palestinian uprising.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the Beit Hanoun homes were targeted, saying they contained weapons caches.

One of the destroyed buildings was three storeys high, and residents reported blast damage to neighbouring homes.

The air strikes were part of a wider offensive launched by Israel after Palestinian gunmen captured a soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25.

The offensive has killed at least 172 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians.

Israel has rejected demands by the three militant groups that captured Corporal Gilad Shalit in the raid, which includes the governing Islamic faction Hamas, to trade the soldier for Palestinian prisoners.

Reuters