Tank shelling kills Gaza woman

A Palestinian woman was killed when Israeli tank shells hit her home in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the second day of exchanges of fire with Hamas fighters.

They were the first direct clashes between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants since the devastating Gaza war in 2014, and come as a new tunnel reaching into the Jewish state was discovered.

Since the confrontations broke out, Hamas and other militant groups have fired bullets and mortar rounds on at least 10 occasions, and the Israeli air force has carried out at least three bombing raids. Israeli tanks stationed on the border have also fired multiple times at what the army said were Hamas targets.

Late yesterday, tank shelling that followed a mortar attack from the Khan Yunis area in southern Gaza killed Zeina Al-Amour, 54, according to the Nasser hospital that pronounced her death.

The shelling came after a night in which air raids wounded four people, three of them children, medical and security officials said.

The flare-up has raised concerns over the fate of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza, that has held since the 50-day war left more than 2,251 Palestinians and 73 Israelis dead.

Although renewed violence has raised fears of a fresh conflict, sources on both sides downplayed the danger.