Two Palestinians were killed and 21 wounded early on Saturday evening in intensive Israeli tanks shelling on eastern Gaza city, medics and eyewitnesses said, Xinhua reported.
Fatal casualties may still rise, as earlier reports said only one died in the incident.
Witnesses and residents of the area east of Zeitoon neighborhood in eastern Gaza city said that Israeli army tanks stationed at the borders area between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel fired at least four shells.
They added that the tanks fired the four shells after militants from Gaza fired a missile at an Israeli army jeep running near the fence of the borders. The witnesses said flames of fire and black smoke were seen after the jeep was hit.
The residents of Zeitoon said that Israeli soldiers stationed at lookout posts opened intensive gunfire at the neighborhood, where ambulances were not able to reach the place and take dozens of casualties injured by the shells' shrapnel.
Most of the injured were taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza city and the nearby medical clinics for treatment by civilian cars, said the witnesses.
Spokesman of the Gaza ministry of health Ashraf al-Qedra was not immediately available. But Ayman al-Sahabani, chief of emergency at Shifa Hospital confirmed to reporters that according to confirmed reports two civilians were killed and 21 wounded.
Most of the casualties are from eastern Gaza city and all are civilians, he said.
Meanwhile, four Palestinians were also injured in another Israeli tanks shelling incident east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, according to medics and witnesses in the area.