TEL AVIV, July 17: At least nine people — six Israelis and three Palestinians — were killed when a bomb exploded in Tel Aviv and an Israeli warplane slammed a missile into a building near the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Israeli army and Palestinian security sources said.
The bomb exploded in Tel Aviv late on Wednesday, killing at least six people in an attack that police claimed was caused by a Palestinian suicide bomber, Israeli media and officials said.
Israeli security forces have been on high alert for suicide bombings by Palestinian militants. The Israeli army took over seven Palestinian cities in the West Bank after 26 people were killed in suicide bombings last month.
3 PALESTINIANS KILLED: Three Palestinians, including a child, were killed when an explosion rocked Al-Amari refugee camp in this West Bank town on Wednesday night.
Assad Hamdan Ahilu, 6, Abu Ashur al-Ijil, 21, and an elderly woman were killed and an unknown number of others were injured in the blast.
The Israeli plane slammed a missile into a building near the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Israeli army and Palestinian security sources said.
The Palestinian sources said the building was a foundry.
The army said in a statement that the building hit in the raid was being used by Hamas group to produce weapons, including mortars and various types of rockets.
An Israeli fighter jet struck the house of a top leader of Hamas group in southern Gaza earlier this week. Israeli military officials said the target was a bomb factory hidden in the house. The leader escaped through a window moments before the missile hit.
Israel’s air force has attacked a number of Palestinian installations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since a Palestinian uprising began in September 2000 after negotiations for a final peace treaty deadlocked.
Earlier a Palestinian was killed and several others were wounded after Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles backed by helicopters circled their house in a West Bank town on Wednesday, its mayor said.—AFP / Reuters
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