Four Hamas militants killed in clashes

ISRAELI troops and Palestinian militants fought with missiles and mortars along the Gaza-Israel border on Wednesday, raising new concerns that an increasingly shaky five-month-old truce might collapse.

Four Hamas militants were killed in the exchange, and the Hamas military wing said it would retaliate.

The Israeli military and Palestinian militants gave conflicting versions of how the fighting started.

Palestinian militants said the battle began when they spotted Israeli forces crossing into Gaza and fired upon them.

The Israeli military would not say whether its forces entered Gaza.

The military said fighting began when Israeli forces spotted armed militants approaching Gaza’s border fence, near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. They said the men were trying to lay an explosive device near the fence.

An exchange of fire erupted. The militants set off an explosive device and fired three mortars at troops, the military said. Israeli soldiers hit four militants and an Israeli soldier was slightly injured, the army said.

Later, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at open fields, the army said.

Palestinian Health Ministry official Dr Moawiya Hassanain said ambulances later retrieved the bodies of four Hamas militants.

In response to the killing Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said: “This is a clear violation of the truce, and the resistance has the right to respond to any attack.”