13 Syrians killed, 25 others hurt in Beit Jin; Palestinian killed near Khan Younis; 9 bodies found in Hamas tunnels
At least 13 Syrians were killed and 25 others wounded yesterday in Israeli artillery and missile attacks on the town of Beit Jinn, southwest of Syria's capital, Damascus.
In Gaza, at least one Palestinian was killed in an Israeli drone attack on the Bani Suheila municipality near Khan Younis city.
Israeli forces also carried out artillery attacks and shot from helicopters in Khan Younis city and air strikes nearby Rafah, reports Al Jazeera online.
Syrian state television reported that women and children were among those killed by Israeli military attacks in Beit Jinn. "Others remain trapped in the rubble", said the media, adding that dozens of local families have fled the area.
The Israeli army said an exchange of fire in an operation to detain militants from neighbouring Lebanon in the Syrian village of Beit Jin left six Israeli soldiers wounded, three of them in serious condition.
"We were asleep when we were woken up at three in the morning by gunfire," wounded resident Iyad Daher told AFP at a hospital in Damascus around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the village.
"We went outside to see what was happening and saw the Israeli army in the village, soldiers and tanks. Then they withdrew, the air force came, and the shells started falling. I was hit by shrapnel in the neck."
The Israeli army said the targets of the operation were fighters from the Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, which is based in neighbouring Lebanon.
"The suspects operated in the area of Beit Jin in southern Syria and advanced terror attacks against Israeli civilians," it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army and police said they were investigating the circumstances in which two Palestinians were shot dead in the occupied West Bank while seemingly surrendering to Israeli forces.
The incident in Jenin in the northern West Bank, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups, was filmed from several angles, including by AFP.
Four European nations on Thursday urged Israel to stop what they called increasing "settler violence against Palestinian civilians" in the occupied West Bank.
"We — France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom — strongly condemn the massive increase of settler violence against Palestinian civilians and call for stability in the West Bank," they said.
In a separate development, the Israeli army said yesterday it had found the bodies of nine Palestinian militants recently killed in its attempts to dismantle the tunnel network in the southern Gaza Strip.
During operations in eastern Rafah, soldiers "located nine additional terrorists who had been eliminated in the underground terror infrastructure", the army said.
