BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - Two Palestinian militants were killed Wednesday by Israeli shelling in the town of Beit Lahiya as Israel expanded its massive offensive in northern Gaza, Palestinian medical and security sources said.
"The two Palestinians arrived at the hospital in pieces from Israeli shelling in Beit Lahiya," medical sources said.
Local sources said the two killed, named as Mohammed al-Masri and Rizzaq al-Zeiti, were members of Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades, a hardline group loosely affiliated to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah organization.
A Palestinian was killed and at least two others were wounded early Wednesday after an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at Beit Lahiya town, Palestinian security sources said.
Just seconds afterwards, a second violent blast shook an area just west of Gaza City, along the coast, an AFP correspondent said. It was not immediately clear what caused the second blast.
An 11-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl who was wounded by Israeli army gunfire while sitting at her desk in a UN-run school in the Gaza Strip died of her injuries Wednesday, according to medical sources.
Ghadir Mkhemar had been wounded in the chest on Tuesday when shots were fired into a classroom at her school in Khan Yunis run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
A 10-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl, Raghda Al-Assar, was also killed last month after being shot in the head in an UNRWA-run school in Khan Yunis.
An UNRWA spokesman said that the latest death was "horrific".
"Peter Hansen (UNWRA's chief executive) expressed deeply felt sorrow at the news," the spokesman said.
"It is horrific by anyone's standards. Schools should be havens of peace. Outside the schools, the pace of child deaths in Gaza has been accelerating terribly in recent weeks. The most basic right of the child, to life, is now being violated almost every day."
Meanwhile, a 28-year-old Palestinian man, named as Khader Al-Tlouli, also died of his injuries Wednesday which he had sustained on Sunday during Israel's massive offensive in the northern Gaza Strip.
A total of 116 Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the launch of the so-called Operation Days of Penitence late last month.
The last deaths brought the overall toll since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian uprising to 4,480, including 3,452 Palestinians and 954 Israelis.
The Operation Days of Penitence had previously been centered on Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp but troops entered Beit Lahiya overnight as part of their efforts to put an end to rocket attacks by militant groups.
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