Israeli raids kill seven Palestinians in Gaza

Six Palestinian militants and a 12-year-old boy were killed in an overnight Israeli air raid and artillery strikes on Rafah.

Six Palestinian militants and a 12-year-old boy were killed in an overnight Israeli air raid and artillery strikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, officials said on Thursday.

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The boy, Anis Abu Awaad, and three militants were killed in an air raid, and two other militants by a tank shell early this morning, security officials said.

It was not immediately known to which armed group the militants belonged.

Several hours earlier, a member of Islamic Jihad was killed by a tank shell, hospital and security officials said.

Twenty-six others were wounded in the attacks, six of them critically, hospital officials said.

The Israeli military launched an offensive in Gaza on June 28, three days after Palestinian militants killed two soldiers and seized a third in a cross-border raid.