<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Israeli air strike kills two Hamas&nbsp;members]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
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<div id="ctl00_cphBody_dvSummary" class="articleSumm"><strong>Fresh casualties in the Gaza Strip amid surge in cross-border violence, a day after Hamas offered a ceasefire.</strong></div>
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<div id="dvByLine_Date"><span id="dvArticleDate"> Last Modified: <span id="ctl00_cphBody_lblDate">08 Apr 2011 08:57 | &#8211; Middle East &#8211; Al Jazeera English</span> </span></div>
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<td align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10px;"><strong>Israel has deployed its &#8216;Iron Dome&#8217; missile defence system [REUTERS]</strong></span></td>
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<p>Two Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the  Gaza Strip, officials on both sides have said, following an offer of a  ceasefire from Hamas after a surge in cross-border violence.</p>
<p>The attack on the southern city of Khan Younis, killed two members  of  the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, which  has fired missiles into Israel in response to Israel&#8217;s killing of three  of its members last week.</p>
<p>A Palestinian rocket attack on an Israeli school bus on Thursday also  saw an escalation of violence between the two sides, with as many as  five people killed in renewed violence along the border between the Gaza  Strip and Israel on Thursday. Dozens more have been injured, medical  sources said.</p>
<p>Both sides have said they hoped to avoid further violence, but an Israeli cabinet minister said the strikes would continue.</p>
<p>&#8220;We  are acting as we see fit so that this type of fire will not continue,  and so that the people behind the fire will regret it,&#8221; Matan Vilnai,  in charge of the home front, told Army Radio.</p>
<p>Nicole Johnston, Al  Jazeera&#8217;s correspondent in Gaza, said Hamas &#8220;really doesn&#8217;t want to  risk an escalation of violence with Israel, and that is very clear  simply by the fact they said they would stick to the ceasefire&#8221;.</p>
<p>She said only one faction in Gaza had said it would not stick to the  ceasefire. &#8220;It&#8217;s one thing for factions and groups to say that they will  abide by the ceasefire, but it&#8217;s another thing to see them actually  stick to it,&#8221; she said.</p>
<p>In Thursday&#8217;s bus attack, Gaza fighters hit an Israeli school bus  near the border with an anti-tank rocket, badly wounding the driver and a  16-year-old boy. The boy remains unconscious in the intensive care ward  of an Israeli hospital.</p>
<p>The al-Qassam Brigades said it had shot two missiles early in the  day, one of which had hit the school bus. The Brigades said the attack  came in reponse to Israel&#8217;s killing of three of its members last week.</p>
<p>A senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera: &#8220;The Israelis are trying to  impose a new formula in Gaza. They are trying to prevent us from taking  any benefits in the region.</p>
<p>&#8220;They are trying to escalate the situation &#8230; The coming few days  will carry a lot of developments if things continue like this.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has urged  western powers to intervene and called on Palestinians &#8220;not to give  Israel an excuse to hit Gaza&#8221;.</p>
<p>Israel has been using its latest cutting-edge missile-defense system for the first time since Thursday.</p>
<p>The  Iron Dome system scored a direct hit on an incoming Palestinian rocket  aimed at an Israeli city, shooting it down, Israel said.</td>
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<p><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/20114875839561107.html">Source</a></p>
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<h3>Related</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Gaza Under Attack | <a href="http://wp.me/p16sn9-5va">April 8, 2011</a></strong></li>
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<h3>Killed by Israeli Occupation 2011</h3>
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<li> <strong>iRemember… <a href="https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/irememberthevictims/" target="_blank">The Martyrs of Occupation 2011</a></strong></li>
</ul>
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