IDF kills 3 Palestinians in Gaza
IAF aircraft fires at group of three gunmen not far from border fence in northern Gaza, killing one of them; Givati force enters Strip, kills two others
The strike took place north of the town of Beit Lahiya, several meters away from the border fence. An IDF force spotted four armed people moving suspiciously about 300 meters (984.25 feet) away from the fence. An aircraft fired at them, hitting one of them.
The soldiers found various weapons on the gunmen's bodies, including antitank missiles, Kalashnikov rifles and grenades.
On Sunday night, Palestinian sources reported that an Israeli fighter jet fired at a car driving in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. According to the sources, IAF strike was in fact a targeted assassination attempt gone-wrong on Ra'ad al-Atar, a senior Izz al-Din Din al-Qassam – Hamas' military wing – operative.
Two people, reportedly civilians, were killed in strike. Atar was left unscathed. The IDF confirmed the attack, citing it was targeting a gunmen cell and that the pilots reported hitting the target.
In a separate incident Monday evening, three Palestinians were lightly injured as a Qassam rocket hit a house in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.
The rocket was believed to have been fired toward southern Israel, accidentally landing within Palestinian territory. Sources in Gaza claimed that a shell fired from an IDF tank caused the injuries.
Several hours earlier, a four-year-old boy was lightly injured by shrapnel Monday after a Qassam rocket landed in Kibbutz Gevim in the western Negev.
Ilan Arad, the boy's father, told Ynet, "We had just returned from the north and the boy was sitting at the back seat of the car. As we arrived at the community we heard the Color Red (alert system), and the Qassam landed in our backyard.
"The shrapnel infiltrated the car near the fuel tank and hit the boy's shoulder. He was evacuated to the hospital for medical treatment."
Palestinian gunmen fired four Qassam rockets toward the western Negev on Monday morning. One of the rockets landed near Shaar Hanegev Regional Council head Alon Schuster, who told Ynet he heard the rocket fly over him as he was jogging.
