Teenager dies in Gaza air strike
A 17-year-old Palestinian boy has been killed in an Israeli air strike on the town of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, medical officials said.
At least four people were hurt in the attack near a school bus, Palestinian officials told Reuters news agency.
Almost 50 Palestinians have died in Israel’s six-day-old military incursion into northern Gaza, aimed, Israel says, at curbing rocket attacks by militants.
Palestinian officials have accused Israel of carrying out a “massacre”.
Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli action in Gaza in separate incidents on Sunday.
Israeli PM Ehud Olmert has declined to say when the operation will end, but insisted Israel had no intention of reoccupying the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces have made regular incursions into Gaza and the West Bank following the capture of an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid by Palestinian militants on 25 June.
‘Necessary steps’
On Saturday at least seven people, including a 12-year-old girl, died in air raids and clashes.
Israeli officials say the offensive in northern Gaza is aimed at destroying militant infrastructure and stopping Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.
“We will take the steps necessary to significantly decrease this fire and to halt the terror activities,” Mr Olmert said.
Despite the crackdown, a rocket hit the Israeli border town of Sderot on Sunday, but no-one was hurt.
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has called the operation a “massacre” and urged the UN Security Council to convene to discuss the issue.
At least 17 people died on Friday, including two women shot during the siege of a mosque in Beit Hanoun.
Link: BBC News
