GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli air strikes killed two Palestinian militants and a civilian in the Gaza Strip on Monday in a fourth day of cross-border hostilities, medical sources said.

The latest violence followed a familiar pattern in which militants launch rocket attacks and Israel carries out air strikes in the Hamas-controlled enclave. But the bloodshed has usually ended after a few days with an informal truce.

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli air strikes killed two Palestinian militants and wounded 25 civilians in the Gaza Strip on Monday, medical sources said, as cross-border hostilities continued into a fourth day.

The latest violence has followed a familiar pattern in which militants launch numerous rocket attacks and Israel carries out air strikes in the Hamas-controlled enclave but the bloodshed has usually ended after a few days with an informal truce.

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli warplanes killed five militants in Gaza on Saturday, the second day of cross-border violence in which Palestinian fighters have fired dozens of rockets into Israel, both sides said. Fifteen militants in the Gaza Strip have been killed since Friday, Hamas medics said. On Saturday, a gunman was killed in a vehicle near Gaza’s border with Egypt. Earlier in the day Israeli jets killed two gunmen on a motorcycle and two others in a pre-dawn attack, officials in Gaza said. The sounds of explosions and rocket fire reverberated across coastal Gaza and southern Israel early on Saturday and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said its air strikes would continue.

“This round in the Strip is still far from over,” he told reporters on a visit to the south of Israel, where around half a million people have been told to stay indoors and keep bomb shelters open.

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli aircraft on Sunday killed two Palestinians, one a 12-year-old boy, medical sources in Gaza said, as cross border violence continued for a third day with militants firing rockets into the Jewish state.

Medics said the boy was killed by an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip and identified him as Ayoub Assaleya. A Palestinian militant was killed in a separate strike in Gaza City, they said.

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel killed four Gaza militants on Saturday as violence sparked by the death of a militant leader a day earlier escalated with gunmen firing more than 90 rockets at Israel, injuring four people, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

In all Israel, has killed 14 militants in aerial strikes launched since Friday, Hamas medics said. In the latest attack, a gunman was killed on a motorcycle and another was critically wounded and later died of his injuries, medics said.

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel killed two more Gaza militants on Saturday, raising the death toll in two days of violence to 12 and dozens of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel injured at least four people, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

Both militants were from the Islamic Jihad group. One of them was killed in a pre-dawn air strike on a vehicle. The other one died as the result of an earlier strike, officials in Gaza said.

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel killed two Palestinian militant leaders on Friday in an air strike on a car in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military and officials in Gaza said.

A third man was also injured in the attack that came shortly after two rockets were fired at Israel from the coastal territory, causing no damage or injury.

GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian Islamist group Hamas faces growing discontent in its Gaza stronghold because of renewed tax hikes and the mismanagement of a power crisis that has led to lengthy blackouts across the enclave.

Traders who import goods from Israel and the West Bank say Hamas authorities have introduced additional fees beyond the usual tax they collect, putting their businesses at risk and threatening the livelihoods of thousands of workers.

GAZA, March 2 (Reuters) – Gaza’s top political leader
blamed Egypt on Friday for causing a power crisis that has
triggered lengthy blackouts in the Palestinian enclave, laying
bare tensions between his Islamist group Hamas and Cairo.

The outages started in mid February, leaving households with
just six hours of electricity a day, provoking widespread
criticism within the territory of Hamas, which governs Gaza.

By Omar Fahmy and Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO/GAZA, Feb 24 (Reuters – Leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas turned publicly against their long-time ally President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Friday, endorsing the revolt aimed at overthrowing his dynastic rule.

The policy shift deprives Assad of one of his few remaining Sunni Muslim supporters in the Arab world and deepens his international isolation. It was announced in Hamas speeches at Friday prayers in Cairo and a rally in the Gaza Strip.