Israel killed three Palestinians early Thursday near the border with the northern Gaza Strip, dpa quoted a Gaza health official as saying. Palestinain witnesses said the three civilians were hit by a shell outside the town of Beit Hanoun as they approached Israel's security fence along the border. The overnight toll climbed to six, as three Palestinian fighters were killed in an Israeli strike in the centre of the Gaza Strip. Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesman for Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry, told reporters two people were wounded, one of them critically. Initial reports said they were members of the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
