A local Hamas commander was reportedly killed in Gaza City
The Israeli army says the siege at a mosque in the town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Strip is over.
A spokesman said Israeli forces had entered the compound and there was no-one inside.
He told the BBC that gunmen who were holed up in the mosque had escaped when a crowd of women approached it.
A tense standoff developed after Israeli forces surrounded the mosque, where Palestinian gunmen had taken refuge along with dozens of others.
Israel's military entered and sealed of Beit Hanoun on Wednesday seeking, it said, to stop rockets being fired into Israel.
Twenty Palestinians and an Israeli soldier have died in the operation, one of the biggest in the strip in recent months.
Human shield
Hamas radio has reported that the all the militants in the mosque had escaped and were uninjured.
There have been reports of Israeli soldiers firing on the groups of women who approached the mosque, after an appeal on Hamas radio, to form a human shield. Two women are reported to have been killed.
Witnesses said bulldozers demolished a wall as the Israelis tried to force those inside to surrender and there have been exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the gunmen.
In Gaza City overnight an Israeli air strike killed four Hamas militants.
The four were travelling in a vehicle that was hit by a missile, Hamas and medical sources said.
A local commander of Hamas' military wing was reportedly among the casualties.
But an Israeli military source told the BBC's Matthew Price in Jerusalem that the operation was not going as well as hoped.
Three days of violence
Many of the 20 Palestinians killed in three days of violence have been gunmen, but a four-year-old boy died from his wounds overnight.
On Thursday, seven Palestinians were killed in northern Gaza.
Both the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya have described the Beit Hanoun operation as a massacre.
The Israeli army confirmed that one of its soldiers had been killed on Wednesday.
Israeli forces have made regular incursions into Gaza and the West Bank following the capture of an Israeli soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit, in a cross-border raid by Palestinian militants on 25 June.
More than 300 Palestinians have been killed in army operations since then, according to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.
Rocket attacks by militants against towns close to the Gaza border, including Sderot and Ashkelon, have continued since Israel pulled its troops out of Gaza in 2005.
Two female Palestinian protesters have been shot dead by Israeli soldiers during a siege at a mosque in Gaza. Ten protesters were also injured after troops opened fire on a group of women and children who were acting as a human shield. Television footage showed shots being fired into the crowd of several dozen women as they made their way towards the building.
Two members of the crowd can be seen falling to the ground as they are hit.
Israel said its soldiers were firing over the heads
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of the group but had spotted two militants hiding in the crowd and had shot them.
The women were on their way to a mosque where dozens of Palestinian militants had been holed up during the night.
They were responding to a radio broadcast by Hamas calling on women to act as a human shield to the men.
The militants and Israeli soldiers exchanged fire as Israeli tanks and and armoured personnel carriers surrounded the building.
An unidentified number of militants escaped while the demonstration was going on but it is thought some remained inside.
The army said it targeted Beit Hanoun in Gaza because it was a major staging ground for rocket attacks against Israeli towns.
More than 20 Palestinians have been killed since Israel's latest incursion into Gaza on Wednesday.
I think the use of the word "protestors" is a little off here. These women were asked by a radio message to descend on the mosque and help those inside escape. When you commit yourself to this type of action you are no longer simply a civilian. Journalists at the scene described men putting on the women's clothes and escaping that way. I would have expected the Israeli military to shrug their shoulders and wait till the next opportunity, but it seems they tried to fire at the women to make them go away, and in the process wounded and killed a few. I believe the Palestinian hopsitals reported the majority of the wounds were in the feet and lower legs, which is why I believe they were attempting to scare the crowd of women away. Difficult situation with no politically correct solution.
It was very sad that hamas would ask women and children to be there human shield. When i read the news i was hoping the media lied but then i seen other news media which also reported the same. Why fight agiasnt israel if hamas cant even put up a fight?
keltoi those gunmen that killed a nun (who put herself in a dangerous environment) in my country a month ago were cowards
these soldiers who killed those 2 sisters are cowards simple as that no need to try and justify there actions
when your trying to scare a crowd you don't aim at their bodies or faces
you shoot in the air..
one report claimed on channel 4 that the soldiers were shooting over these sisters heads as a warning
?? over their heads??
Being murdered and putting yourself in the line of fire are two completely different things, but you can't justify shooting at a crowd of women who were seemingly unarmed. I understand the frustration of having your enemy cornered and having them be rescued by a large crowd of women, but shooting at unarmed women is counter-productive, no matter how you attempt to justify it.
It was very sad that hamas would ask women and children to be there human shield. When i read the news i was hoping the media lied but then i seen other news media which also reported the same. Why fight agiasnt israel if hamas cant even put up a fight?
I guess you'd have to be there to be able to answer that one. Perhaps they were trying to defend themselves from an Israeli occupation, but on the other hand, firing rockets at Israel is what has been provoking the Israeli occupation. Maybe they don't know the saying: Live today, fight tomorrow?
I wish they'd knock it off so I can work on my presentation, which is on behalf of Palestine. If they keep this rate up, there won't be any Palestinians left to make a presentation for.
Hamas called for the women to act as shields? How pathetic. When two groups are involved in an armed conflict, and you make the choice to get involved and help one side, you are no longer an innocent bystander. It is sad that two women were killed, but they stepped between two groups that were fighting with guns. It is to be expected.
How dare Hamas ask them to do that. And how dare these women put themselves in harms way and risk causing their families such grief.
If the Isralies wanted to murder the 400 women they could have done so.
But they did not.
And? Is that supposed to excuse it?
format_quote Originally Posted by Keltoi
Being murdered and putting yourself in the line of fire are two completely different things, but you can't justify shooting at a crowd of women who were seemingly unarmed. I understand the frustration of having your enemy cornered and having them be rescued by a large crowd of women, but shooting at unarmed women is counter-productive, no matter how you attempt to justify it.
Hamas called for the women to act as shields? How pathetic. When two groups are involved in an armed conflict, and you make the choice to get involved and help one side, you are no longer an innocent bystander. It is sad that two women were killed, but they stepped between two groups that were fighting with guns. It is to be expected.
How dare Hamas ask them to do that. And how dare these women put themselves in harms way and risk causing their families such grief.
In Beit Hanoon nowadays women and children don´t need to make decision do they step between two armed groups or not because they have to live between them. Israeli army has besieged this town and its 30 000 inhabitants, as Israeli army has announced, it is "closed military zone", and in fact, israeli soldiers shoot everything that moves. "Siege" means in this case that nobody can´t go in or out from there. By reports humanitarian catastrophe is not very far.
In this mosque siege; part of those about 60 fighters of Al-Qassam Brigades were they own sons and husbands. By this reason it is difficult to say, were they "human shields" or did they try to rescue they own relatives.
I. Why fight agiasnt israel if hamas cant even put up a fight?
what do you mean by that?
know that saving palestine is not the responsibility of only Hamas....
Our Lord! Verily, we have heard the call of one calling to Faith: 'Believe in your Lord,' and we have believed.
Our Lord! Forgive us our sins and expiate from us our evil deeds, and make us die (in the state of righteousness) along with Al-Abrar
know that saving palestine is not the responsibility of only Hamas....
What is Hamas saving? They are not saving anything. They are just perpetuating a cycle of violence. Fatah on the other hands actually wishes to create a state that can live side by side with Israel. Hamas's only goals are to destroy, while Fatah wishes to create.
Fatah on the other hands actually wishes to create a state that can live side by side with Israel.
You are right; the basic aim of Hamas is not two-state solution. They, as I have understood, try to liberate so called 1948-occupied Palestine too. And create independent and free state to palestinians. And yes of course, islamic one. Without Fatah-style corruption hopely.
You are right; the basic aim of Hamas is not two-state solution. They, as I have understood, try to liberate so called 1948-occupied Palestine too. And create independent and free state to palestinians. And yes of course, islamic one. Without Fatah-style corruption hopely.
Right, and in the process kill everyone who disagrees with them.
Right, and in the process kill everyone who disagrees with them.
Salaam alaykum or Peace;
I am not sure what that means. Hamas and Fatah have reached agreement of national unity government. President Abbas and prime minister Haniyya met today in Gaza; the discussions of next prime minister (who will not be Haniyya) postponed in cause of massacre in Gaza... But they both donated blood for victims of this horrible massacre. It doesn´t sound like "kill everyone who disagrees with them".
Regardless of what one thinks of Hamas, it is becoming fairly evident that this organization hasn't improved the lives of Palestinians.
Salaam alaykum/Peace;
As the Palestinian Legislative Council member, Dr Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, said some days ago "don´t blame Hamas because you haven´t got your salaries for months, blame Israel and those western countries whose are behind of this unfair siege". Al-Barghouthi is not member of Hamas but human-rights activist from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
So; broke the economical siege of Palestine first and look then what Hamas can do for lives of Palestinians.
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?? over their heads??
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