Six Palestinians have been killed in three Israeli air strikes targeting the Gaza Strip, according to medics and witnesses. Five people were killed and several others were wounded on Tuesday in one air raid near Qarara village east of the southern town of Khan Yunis, Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services, said.
"The number of dead has risen to five and a number of civilians have been wounded in an Israeli air strike that targeted a civilian car in the Qarara area," he said. The Israeli army confirmed carrying out air raids, saying that one attack - carried out in southern Gaza - destroyed a blue Subaru.
Islamic Jihad said all the five victims were its members. Another two Israeli air attacks in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah killed a sixth person and wounded five people, local Palestinian hospital officials said. "There were three aerial attacks ... two of them were against vehicles carrying terror operatives and one of them was against terror operatives without a vehicle," an Israeli army spokeswoman said. One of those killed in Tuesday's Israeli raids was Moataz Doghmush, a senior fighter in the Army of Islam, an armed faction believed to be linked to al-Qaeda, Hassanein said. In response, Palestinian fighters fired seven rockets into Israel, the Israeli military said. The exchange of fire came hours before Cairo announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire agreement to take effect on Thursday. At least 515 people have been killed since Israel and the Palestinians relaunched peace negotiations at a conference in the US city of Annapolis in November, most of them Palestinian fighters, according to an AFP count.
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