Nine killed in air strike and incursion into Gaza

Gaza City: Israeli forces launched air strikes and a ground raid on Gaza on Friday, trading fire with gunmen in clashes that killed nine Palestinians including a 12-year-old boy, Palestinians said.

The deaths drove the Palestinian death toll to 17 in Israeli strikes retaliating for an attack that killed two Israeli civilians at a vital Gaza fuel depot on Wednesday. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has pledged to keep hitting Hamas so that it cannot "continue to operate against Israeli civilians as it does." There were no signs, however, of any impending major ground offensive by Israel.

Israel also claimed that Hamas was exaggerating gasoline shortages in the Gaza Strip for propaganda purposes while using large quantities of fuel to transport weapons that target Israel.

"We aren't saying that the situation in Gaza is easy, but there is a Hamas propaganda campaign," said Colonel Nir Press, the liaison officer with the Gaza Strip.