(AP) - Israeli tanks and troops moved back into southern Gaza and aircraft fired missiles early Thursday, killing four militants and an 8-year-old boy in the latest stage of their monthlong offensive, Palestinian officials said.
Residents and Palestinian security officials said about 50 tanks, accompanied by bulldozers, crossed one mile into Gaza, taking up positions in a village outside the town of Rafah and at the Gaza airport, which has been out of commission for several years, reports Trend.
The Israeli forces advanced about five miles into Gaza, taking control of the main highway and blocking the eastern entrance of Rafah, a town on the Gaza-Egypt border, residents said. It was the farthest the Israelis have advanced in the area since the start of their offensive in late June.
As the tanks took up positions, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at several groups of militants, killing four. Twenty-six Palestinians were wounded in the airstrikes, at least 10 of them militants, security and hospital officials said.
Forces later fired a tank shell at residents gathering in the area after daybreak, killing an 8-year-old boy and wounding three people, including a 4-year-old girl, officials said.
The military said Israeli forces were carrying out an operation in southern Gaza, and an aircraft fired at militants who were about to launch anti-tank rockets at Israeli forces.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after a June 25 cross-border raid by Hamas-linked militants who tunneled under the frontier and attacked an Israeli army post, killing two soldiers and capturing a third.
Israeli ground forces have moved in and out of several parts of the territory regularly since then, confronting armed militants, leaving considerable destruction behind. At least 119 people have been killed in Gaza since the offensive began, most of them militants.