ISRAELI FORCES killed three Palestinians in the northern Gaza strip yesterday, although the circumstances are unclear.
The Israeli military said troops opened fire after the three men, all aged in their 20s, were spotted approaching the security fence in the northern Gaza strip “in an attempt to plant explosive devices”. A spokesman for the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small militant group, sent a text message to reporters identifying one of the men as a member of the group “killed during a mission carried out by our military wing”. But relatives of the men said the three were fisherman collecting sea shells.
Adham Abu Selmiya, a spokesman for the Hamas-run emergency services, said the men, wearing civilian clothes, were killed after they were hit by a tank shell and machine-gun fire in an area close to both the Mediterranean and Gaza’s northern border with Israel. The Israeli navy also participated in the shooting.
Israel operates a buffer zone in the area adjacent to the border fence, where militants often try to plant bombs to be detonated when Israeli military patrols pass. According to the United Nations, more than 50 Palestinians, including 12 civilians, were killed by Israeli troops near the border last year.
The Israeli military spokesman said 100 incidents took place near the security fence surrounding the Gaza Strip during 2010, an average of one every three days.
Clashes between Gaza militants and Israeli forces have decreased since Israel’s military offensive in Gaza just over two years ago.
However, Israeli air strikes and militant rocket fire into southern Israel occur regularly.
Israel holds Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority in 2007, responsible for all attacks from the strip, even if carried out by smaller factions.