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Four killed in Israeli Gaza raids Five killed in Israeli Gaza raids
(about 8 hours later)
Four members of the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, have been killed and four more injured in two Israeli air strikes on the southern Gaza Strip. Five members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas have been killed and three people injured in an Israeli air strike on the southern Gaza Strip.
Israel's military said it carried out the raid, east of Khan Younis, after armed men were seen near the border. Israel's military said it carried out the raid, east of Khan Younis, after gunmen were identified near the border.
The attack brings the number of people killed in Israeli military actions in Gaza since Tuesday up to 10, when a new peace initiative was begun in the US. Hamas officials said the dead men had been carrying out a night patrol.
Israel has stepped up operations since Hamas seized control of Gaza in June. The attack brings to 11 the number of people killed by the Israeli military in Gaza since Tuesday, when a new peace initiative was begun in the US.
Witnesses said the first strike hit a group on a night patrol about 500m from the border fence east of Khan Younis. The second attack hit a group going to aid them. The real barrage of rockets has not yet begun Abu MujahidPopular Resistance Committees
According to hospital officials in Khan Younis, two of the dead are brothers. After the peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to launch formal talks aimed at reaching a peace deal by the end of 2008.
Hamas said the talks, from which it was excluded, had been a "failure".
Rocket threat
Hamas said the Israeli air strike had killed five members of its military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, while they were conducting a night patrol about 500m from the Israel-Gaza border fence early on Saturday.
Several of the injured were members of the Popular Resistance Committees, a smaller militant group allied to Hamas.
The Israeli military later confirmed it had carried out the strike after armed men were identified near the border with Gaza.
Israeli forces have carried out several air strikes inside Gaza in recent months in retaliation for almost daily rocket attacks on Israel by Palestinian militants.
A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, Abu Mujahid, reacted to Saturday's air strike by promising that the group was developing rockets with a longer range that would threaten more Israeli towns.
"The real barrage of rockets has not yet begun," he said.
In addition to carrying out air strikes, Israel has been restricting fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip since October in response to the ongoing rocket fire.
On Friday, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the government could continue the fuel cutbacks, but said it had to postpone electricity cuts planned for Sunday because it had not offered enough details on the areas which would be affected.