Nine killed in deadly day of Gaza violence
Israeli warplanes and tanks hammered Gaza yesterday, killing nine people in the deadliest day of violence in the Strip since the end of the Gaza war two years ago.
And a truce declared by Palestinian armed groups unravelled even before it could take hold as they fired dozens of mortar rounds and rockets into southern Israel.
The latest deaths came after 24 hours of deadly tit-for-tat violence that began on Thursday when Hamas militants fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus.
Since the bus attack, Israel has launched more than 20 raids on targets across the enclave. By Friday afternoon, it had had killed 14 Gazans -- including seven civilians, among them a 10-year-old boy, five Hamas militants and one policeman.
In the wake of the strikes, the self-declared truce called by Hamas appeared meaningless, with both Hamas and Islamic Jihad claiming mortar and rocket attacks on Israel yesterday.
Two of Friday's deadliest strikes took place around the southern city of Khan Yunis, with one killing two Hamas militants just east of the city.
A second hit a group of civilians slightly farther north, killing a man in his 50s and a woman and her 21-year-old daughter, medics said.
Another missile strike killed one Hamas militant near the northern town of Beit Lahiya.
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