Accessibility links

Breaking News

Israeli-Palestinian Violence Continues for 4th Day


A Palestinian militant member of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, talks on a walkie-talkie at Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza strip, August 21, 2011
A Palestinian militant member of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, talks on a walkie-talkie at Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza strip, August 21, 2011

Palestinian militants fired at least 17 more rockets into Israel Sunday and the Israeli military launched an air strike in the Gaza Strip during the region's fourth straight day of violence.

Overall, the violence has claimed the lives of 15 Palestinians, nine Israelis and five Egyptians.

Palestinian police say Israeli troops arrested scores of Hamas members Sunday in the southern West Bank, just hours after the most recent rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel's south.

The Israeli military and Palestinian militants have carried out back-and-forth attacks since Palestinian ambushes inside Israel near the Egyptian border killed eight Israelis on Thursday.

Israel says militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip have fired more than 100 rockets into southern Israel in the past days. One rocket attack killed an Israeli man. The Israeli air strikes have killed mostly Palestinian militants. Civilians on both sides have been wounded.

Five Egyptian police officers were killed on the Israel-Egypt border as Israeli troops pursued the initial Palestinian attackers. The deaths sparked outrage in Egypt.

The Arab League has condemned the Israeli air assaults. In a statement Sunday, the group called on the U.N. Security Council to take necessary procedures to end the attacks.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday expressed regret for the deaths of the Egyptian officers and said Israel will conduct a full investigation with the Egyptian military. Egypt's government said the response was "not enough."

Protesters outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo cheered when a man climbed atop the building and removed the Israeli flag, replacing it with an Egyptian flag.

Egypt's military-backed government said it would recall its ambassador to Israel to protest the killing of the Egyptian officers.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Follow our Middle East reports on Twitter
and discuss them on our Facebook page.
XS
SM
MD
LG