Israeli military forces have killed nine Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip today.
Six Palestinian militants were killed by helicopter fire during a thwarted attack on an Israeli military post near the border with the central Gaza Strip, Islamic Jihad confirmed this evening.
Earlier, Palestinian residents reported a small Israeli commando force crossed into the territory near the Palestinian town of Khan Younis and that gun battles erupted.
Israeli tanks then moved into the area, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and the fighting intensified, they said.
Two Islamic Jihad gunmen and a Hamas militant were killed, doctors said.
The Israeli army said its forces carried out "routine activity" in an area where gunmen have been firing rockets at Israel and digging tunnels near the border fence.
Israel's security cabinet, discussing how to respond to Qassam rockets from Gaza, decided yesterday to pursue "pinpointed attacks" against militants, despite calls by right-wingers for a large-scale operation in the Hamas-controlled territory.