Three Palestinian militants have been killed after Israeli forces entered a Gaza Strip village and surrounded the home of a member of Hamas, sources said.
They said Mohammad al-Ghul and Emran al-Ghul, family members of bomb-maker Adnan al-Ghul, were killed inside the house, which the army blew up after exchanging fire with gunmen inside.
Clashes with the army attracted gunmen who flooded into the area in the village of Al-Mughraqa and exchanged fire with the Israeli forces. An Islamic Jihad militant was killed in the clash, hospital sources said today.
Three helicopter gunships accompanied by 15 tanks fired into the streets, witnesses said.
An Israeli military source said there was a "targeted arrest operation" against a wanted Hamas member. He said one soldier was lightly wounded in the operation, but gave no further details.
Al-Mughraqa village is near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, which has come under attack often throughout the Palestinian uprising.
In the neighbouring refugee camp of Nusseirat, a known stronghold of Hamas, militants used loudspeakers to announce the deaths of the al-Ghul family.