By Xinhua,
GAZA/RAMALLAH : Two Palestinians were killed and five injured in both Gaza and the West Bank on Monday as violence between Israel and the Palestinians had mounted.
Gaza emergency chief Mo’aweya Hassanein said that a Palestinian was killed and another was critically wounded in an Israeli air raid on their car that drove east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah.
Witnesses said that a pilot less Israeli army drone fired on missile at a car that drove east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, adding that the two people into the car were hit and their car was badly damaged.
Overnight, Rafah residents said that Israeli F16 warplane targeted the borderline area between the town and Egypt with around six successive air strikes aiming at destroying tunnels under the borders used for smuggling.
Israeli warplanes had also targeted an empty police station that belongs to Hamas interior ministry in central Gaza Strip. The station was completely destroyed, but no injuries were reported.
The Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip came hours after Gaza militant groups launched around eight homemade rockets and mortar shells at Israeli communities in southern Israel. Two Israelis were lightly injured.
In Hebron in the West Bank, Israeli and Palestinian reports conflicted on killing one Palestinian and wounding four others who were into a car near an Israeli army checkpoint south of Hebron.
Israel Radio’s Arabic service quoted an army spokesman as saying that the Palestinian who was killed is a gunman and he opened fire at an Israeli army patrol near the checkpoint and the soldiers fired back and killed the man.
However, Palestinian security sources in Hebron denied the Israeli allegations, saying that the killed man and the other four injured were all probably workers who were trying to get into Israel to look for a job.
The ongoing violence had flared as a delegation represents Hams movement has headed to Cairo for talks with senior Egyptian security officials on reaching a one-year truce with Israel.