Thousands of people attended the funeral today of four Palestinian policemen killed in Israeli raids overnight, while tensions have increased after the Hamas organisation claimed weekend killings.
Seven thousand people marched from the mosque in the center of the Gaza Strip town of Deir el-Balah to the graveyard to bury the Palestinian policemen killed during an Israeli incursion, witnesses said.
Three policemen were killed during an Israeli tank raid into Deir el-Balah. They were named as Mr Shadi al-Hassanat, Mr Khaled Abu Sitta and Mr Abdel Halim al-Hassanat.
The fourth policeman, Mr Amjad Hamad, was killed by Israeli troops in Beit Hanoun. Palestinian security officials said he was unarmed.
Meanwhile the radical Islamic group Hamas today claimed responsibility for a weekend shooting attack in the southern Israeli town of Beersheva that left two Israeli women soldiers dead.
A statement posted on the Hamas website said two of its militants carried out the "heroic operation against the Israeli army headquarters in Beersheva on Sunday."
The two women soldiers, aged 18 and 20, were killed and five other Israelis injured. The gunmen, one of whom was found to have explosives strapped to his body, were killed by Israeli troops.
The attack was a payback for the Israelis army's occupation of Palestinian land and in particular for the killing of four Hamas bombmakers on January 22nd, the statement said.
A group of about 500 Hamas supporters were among those marching at today’s funeral. They fired into the air and chanted slogans calling for revenge for the killings.
Israeli troops were today continuing search operations in Beit Hanoun today, which an Israeli statement described as a "stronghold of the Hamas organisation from where a large number of attacks have been planned."
Overnight the troops had entered the three towns, including Beit Lahia in the same region overnight. All three towns are nominally under Palestinian self-rule.
