At least 5 Palestinians die as Israel fires rockets into Gaza

At least five Palestinians, including two children, have been killed by Israeli artillery strikes in the northern

Gaza strip, according to various media reports, in retaliation for rockets fired into Israel on Saturday.

The attacks raise fears that Israel may again invade Gaza.

At least five people died when Israel opened fire on young people who were playing football in Shejaiya, Adham Abu Selmiya, an emergency services spokesman, told Agence France Presse.
Some of the dead were reportedly members of the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Another dozen people on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City after an Israeli tank shell smashed into a home there.

The Israeli army expressed its “regret” over the deaths of the children.

Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defense said: We were not glad of it but that's the price of dealing every day with the terrorists attacking our civilian population from within civilian population on the other side.

These deaths come one day after doctors in Gaza claimed at least seventeen Palestinians were wounded by Israel air strikes in the northern town of Beit Lahiya and Gaza City.

The targets of that prior attack was reportedly a training camp/security compound used by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

A reporter for Al Jazeera, Bernard Smith, who is in Gaza, said: Tensions look to be rising here, and violence could increase.”