Five die as artillery fire, rockets end Gaza calm

JERUSALEM – Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinians on Thursday in the Gaza Strip, while gunmen there fired rockets into Israel during the day.

The spate of violence ended a few weeks of relative calm between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli forces that began after Israeli tanks and troops withdrew from a volatile area east of Gaza City early this month. Israel’s military has maintained intensive operations in Gaza since June 25, when Palestinian gunmen captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid.

A conflict between rival Palestinian factions has sharpened at the same time, and rocket fire into Israel appears to be on the rise again. The Israeli military said four rockets landed in southern Israel over the course of the day, hitting a college classroom and rupturing a water pipe in the city of Sderot. No injuries were reported.

The Palestinians were killed in two separate incidents.

Early Thursday, Israeli army and border police units surrounded a house in Rafah during what military officials described as an arrest operation.

The Israeli military said Palestinian gunmen inside the house attacked the Israeli forces with rifle fire and grenades. The soldiers directed small-arms and tank fire at the house, military officials said. Later, soldiers also fired on a man outside the house.

Palestinian health officials reported that a 35-year-old mother was killed by a tank round in the Rafah fighting and that a man was killed by gunfire.

Later in the day, three Palestinians who witnesses said were tending goats near the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza were killed by Israeli fire. Israeli military officials confirmed that artillery fire had been directed at three men whom Palestinian witnesses described as teenagers. Israeli military officials said the men were handling launchers used to fire rockets.