GAZA CITY, Nov 3: Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian women acting as human shields between soldiers and Palestinian militants holed up in a mosque in Gaza on Friday, as well as a militant in a nearby clash, witnesses said.

The violence came on the third day of an Israeli assault on the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, the largest operation it has conducted in the Gaza Strip in months, designed to put a stop to militants firing homemade rockets into Israel.

Militants from the Hamas fired two rockets into southern Israel hours later, causing no casualties.

“Bombardment for bombardment and blood for blood,” Hamas, which heads the Palestinian government, said in a statement.

About 60 militants had taken refuge in the Al-Nasir mosque on Thursday. On Friday, around 50 veiled women, answering an appeal on local radio, marched on the mosque, acting as cover against the Israeli troops to allow the gunmen to flee.

Television footage showed Israeli forces opening fire and one of the women fall dead. Ten were wounded.

The Israeli army said it had fired at armed Palestinians and was investigating whether it had also shot the women. The army said it had film showing armed men among the women, which it described as human shields.

The television footage showed no men among the crowds of women when the first shots were fired.

Israeli soldiers also killed a Hamas militant east of Beit Hanoun during a clash that erupted between troops and Palestinian militants as some 30 Israeli military tanks moved towards the town of Jabalya, a militant stronghold.

An Israeli air strike wounded three Palestinians near another Gaza mosque, Palestinian rescue workers and security sources said. It was unclear if the injured had been armed.—Reuters