Militants vow revenge for deaths in Israeli raid

ISRAEL and the Palestinians were locked in a deadly cycle yesterday, with militant groups vowing revenge for a raid that killed 14 on Sunday and the army promising no let up in its operations.

Violence continued when a Palestinian teenager was shot dead by Israeli soldiers near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip yesterday morning. Palestinian medical sources and witnesses said the 16-year-old was working in a field belonging to his family near the southern settlement of Morag when soldiers shot him.

The army said the devastating raid which left 14 Palestinians dead on Sunday, including nine gunmen from the radical Hamas movement, was aimed at dismantling cells manufacturing Qassam rockets. Three teenagers were among the victims of the incursion, which prompted Palestinian militant groups to vow retaliation on Israel.