A man walks his dog by a house in southern Israel damaged by mortar fire from Gaza on Saturday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Hamas claims responsibility for some mortars fired into Israel
- Israeli forces spotted two suspicious people near security fence, military says
- Palestinian medical officials confirm two deaths
- A day earlier, five people were injured in fighting
Jerusalem (CNN) — Two Palestinians were killed overnight by Israeli forces in Gaza, an Israeli military spokeswoman said Sunday.
The two were identified by Israeli forces in the area who saw two suspicious figures approaching a security fence, the spokeswoman said. Israeli forces then opened fire, she said.
Palestinian medical officials confirmed that two Palestinians had been killed.
Also overnight, a Qassam rocket was fired into southern Israel, causing no injuries, the Israeli military said.
This latest incidents follows a day of surging violence between Israel and Hamas-run Gaza. Officials on both sides said the cross-border violence led to five injuries, including three Palestinian children who were seriously wounded.
According to an Israeli military spokeswoman, dozens of mortar shells were fired into southern Israel on Saturday, in the heaviest barrage of rocket fire since the end of the Israeli military offensive on Gaza in January 2009. Two Israeli citizens sustained minor injuries, she said. Israel said its military fired tank shells and used helicopter fire toward what they identified as the sources of the rocket fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Saturday night that he “views the Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians severely, and Israel will take all necessary measures to protect its citizens.”
On the Arabic website of its military wing, Hamas took responsibility for firing of some of the several dozen rockets that were fired into Israel Saturday, saying the mortars were “a message … to the Zionist enemy and in response to the incessant shelling over the past few days against our people,” including the shelling that led to the two deaths.
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