Israeli Army Raids Gaza Towns, Killing 3
Israeli helicopters fired missiles into a Palestinian orchard Sunday, killing two teenagers, and two Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli in escalating violence following a major suicide bombing last week.

Two Palestinian militants who appeared to have been the intended target of the missile strike in the Gaza Strip fled the scene unscathed in a car, witnesses and medics said.

A senior Israeli security source confirmed an air strike on the orchard by the road between Khan Younis and Rafah refugee camps in Gaza and said ``three wanted men were hit.''

Palestinian hospital officials identified the dead as Mohammed Kawara, 14, and Abdullah a-Najar, 19, and said neither they nor a 15-year-old youth wounded in the attack were known to be members of militant groups waging the uprising for statehood.

According to Palestinian witnesses, two members of the Islamic militant group Hamas were at the scene in a car but were shielded from the first missile by a tree and managed to escape.

Witnesses identified the two as Raed al-Atar and Mohammed Abu Shamallah, both in Hamas's military wing. Israeli security sources confirmed the two were on Israel's wanted list.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment. It has used helicopters to track and kill dozens of Palestinian militants, missions that have sometimes killed civilian bystanders and led to revenge attacks by militants.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html