One dead, 7 wounded in Gaza strike

A Palestinian was killed and at least seven others were wounded by Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, Palestinian sources told ‘Arabstoday’. According to reports, two Israeli air raids hit east of the Zeitun neighbourhood in the Gaza Strip. Medical sources stated that the victim Ismail Al-Areer, 22, a member of Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, was killed and three others injured in an Israeli air strike targeted a house in east Al-Shogaea, while the other air strike targeted an open area in the Zeitun neighbourhoodin the Gaza, and left four wounded. Witnesses said they had earlier clashed with Israeli troops who crossed the Gaza border and entered a buffer zone.  The Israeli military said in a statement that their aircraft targeted two "terrorist squads" preparing to launch rockets at Israeli soldiers from two different locations within the northern Gaza Strip. "Successful hits were identified, preventing the rocket launches," the statement read. Last Sunday, Israeli warplanes launched two strikes on the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory into the Eshkol region of southern Israel the day before, causing no casualties, Earlier in October, the Israeli chief of staff warned that repeated rocket fire from Gaza would push Israel into taking "aggressive" action in the Gaza Strip. Low-level unrest has rumbled in and around Gaza in past weeks but has not erupted into all-out fighting as it did on October 29-30 when tit-for-tat violence left 12 Palestinian militants and an Israeli civilian dead. Militant groups say they are observing an Egypt-brokered truce agreement but have reserved the right to reply to any Israeli fire. Israel has said it will target any militants poised to fire rockets across the border. Al-Quds Brigades have warned they will respond to these crimes but at the right time and the right place.