Israel last week distributed leaflets warning Gazans not to get close to their own border [AFP]
Israel last week distributed leaflets warning Gazans not to get close to their own border [AFP]
Two Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli soldiers close to the northern border of the besieged Gaza Strip. Palestinian witnesses said that the men were collecting scrap metal when they were killed late on Saturday, but Israeli officials said they were fighters trying to launch rockets into Israel.
The deaths came just days after Israel distributed leaflets warning the 1.5 million Gazans not to come within 300 metres of an internationally condemned border wall.
But Israel has said there has been an increase in rocket and mortar attacks in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, at least three Palestinians were killed after Israeli forces launched a series of air raids which it said were a response to Palestinian attacks.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, told his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday that 20 mortar bombs and rockets had been fired at Israel in the last week.
"I view this very seriously," he said.
"The government's policy is clear, any shooting at our territory will receive an immediate and powerful response."
Rocket and mortar attacks were also cited as the reason for Israel's 22-day offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which began in late December 2008 and left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead.
Thirteen Israelis were killed during the conflict.
Palestinian medical officials have said that two Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip were killed by gunfire from Israel on Saturday, according to security sources and Palestinian officials.

According to witness reports, the men were collecting scrap metal when they were killed near the border; Israeli officials, however, said that the men were trying to shoot rockets into Israel. An Israeli military spokeswoman said that the army had nothing to do with the shooting. 

The head of Gaza's emergency and ambulance services, Mo'aweya Hassanein, said to media that ambulances were dispatched to the area, but were still waiting for permission from Israeli authorities to reach the scene.

On Sunday, the IDF said in a statement that an Israeli Air Force craft attacked a terror cell preparing to fire projectiles from the southern Gaza Strip into Israel on Sunday evening.

Palestinian medics and the IDF say Sunday's air strike killed three members of the Islamic Jihad group in central Gaza.