Israeli occupation forces pulled out of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun before daybreak Tuesday, the military said. However, shortly after the Israeli announcement five Palestinians were reported dead. Later, two other Palestinians were shot dead.
In its statement, the Israeli army said infantry, engineering and armored forces completed their operations, which were aimed against" terror infrastructure and rocket launching infrastructure in Beit Hanun."
"The IDF will continue to act with determination in order to destroy terrorist organizations and terrorist infrastructure and in order to prevent and disrupt the launching of rockets at Israel," the statement, cited by Haaretz, read.
The Israeli army said forces took up new positions inside the Gaza Strip but outside the town. Locals reported troops and tanks withdrawing from the town overnight. Nevertheless, Palestinian security sources and witnesses later denied that the Israeli army had withdrawn from the area, noting that tanks and armored vehicles are still seizing locations northeast and northwest Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, five Palestinians were killed in three separate Israeli shooting and artillery shelling incidents on northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics and witnesses reported on Tuesday. Eyewitnesses said that an Israeli tank deployed northeast of the Gaza Strip fired one artillery shell at the house of female Hamas lawmaker, Jamila Shanti. The shelling killed her brother's wife and seriously wounded her brother, who were in the house.
Earlier, two Hamas activists died in another Israeli artillery shelling on an area east of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip. Also on Tuesday, two Islamic Jihad members were shot dead in a gunbattle with Israeli occupation forces in northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia.
Medical sources conveyed that since the beginning of the Israeli operation last week, 62 Palestinians were killed, including the five killed on Tuesday, and more than 250 wounded.
On Monday, five Palestinians, including two civilians, were killed by Israeli fire in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations on Monday called for a ceasefire in the fighting between Israeli and Palestinian forces in Gaza Strip and for UN observers to be sent to monitor the truce. Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour said Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas had written to the 15-nation UN Security Council urging it to take measures to stop Israeli attacks.
