Six Palestinians have been killed and six others have been wounded by Israeli fire in a sudden late-night clashes interrupted by air raids east of Khan Younis to the south of Gaza Strip.
Sunday’s exchange of fire came as Israeli forces carried out a ground incursion in the besieged enclave.
The Palestinian Interior Ministry declared a state of alert following the incident.
Spokesperson for the minister Iyad al-Bazem said a “security incident” had left “a number” dead and wounded.
Shortly after the exchange of fire air raid were carried out east of the city of Khan Younis.
Ashraf al-Qidra spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement the six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack.
Al-Qidra identified the victims as Nour al-Din Muhammad Salama Baraka 37 Mohammed Majid Mousa al-Qara 23 Alaeddin Mohammed Qweider 22 Mustafa Hassan Abu Odeh 21 and Mahmoud Atallah Musbeh 25.
A Hamas official said on Sunday a group of its men were fired at from a passing car belonging to Israeli forces and Hamas members gave chase.
The PIC reporter said that during the chase Israeli aircraft fired over 40 missiles in the area where the incident took place.
The Israeli army said in a brief statement that: “During Israeli forces operational activity in the Gaza Strip an exchange of fire evolved.”
Further details were not immediately available.
