GAZA CITY (AFP) — A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was killed on Thursday after being run over by an Israeli army bulldozer while troops were operating in the Gaza Strip, medics and witnesses said.
Mahmud Kayed was run over and his body torn to pieces after the vehicle lurched towards a group of youths throwing rocks during the Israeli operation in the Al-Bureij refugee camp, they said.
"During the early morning hours there were exchanges of fire between the forces and gunmen and one gunman was hit," an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
An investigation was opened into media reports that a Palestinian teenager had been run over by a bulldozer, she added.
Five Palestinians, including at least two militants from Hamas -- the radical group that wrested armed control of Gaza three months ago -- were wounded by Israeli gunfire during the operation, medics said.
The militants were wounded by helicopter fire and one was seriously hurt, medics said. Another Palestinian was later critically wounded, they added.
Israeli bulldozers ripped up farmland, while soldiers were going house to house searching for militants and weapons, witnesses said.
An Israeli air strike targeted a car carrying Hamas gunmen in the central Gaza Strip but the militants escaped without injury, the army and witnesses said.
Kayed's death brings to 5,866 the number of people killed since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in in September 2000, the vast majority of them Palestinians, according to an AFP tally.
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