Israeli troops kill three Palestinians in Gaza push

THREE Palestinians, including two children, were killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip as troops pressed on with a massive nine-day-old incursion in the north, Palestinian medics and the Israeli army said.

Palestinian doctors identified the two slain children as Sliman Abu Ful and Raed Abu Zeid, both 14, and said their bodies had been ripped apart by what appeared to be a tank shell.

The Israeli army insisted the two people fired on had been “preparing to fire an improvised rocket”.