By DPA
Gaza City : Israeli ground troops crossed into the southern Gaza Strip Tuesday, sparking gun battles with militants confronting them and killing at least three gunmen from the radical Islamic Jihad faction.
An artillery shell killed the three, Islamic Jihad said in a statement.
A fourth Palestinian, also an Islamic Jihad militant, was killed in an Israeli airstrike near the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the Israel Air Force struck twice from the air at two groups of armed Palestinians approaching the border fence separating the northern strip from Israel.
In the south of the strip, Palestinians said dozens of tanks rolled into the eastern outskirts of the town Rafah.
The military said they crossed some 1.5 km into the strip for a “routine” operation against ongoing rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the area.
The troops were searching for militants and rounding up local men for on-the-spot questioning, she said.
Two Israeli soldiers were lightly injured in the gun battles when a grenade hit their tank, she said.