Gaza  - Israeli operations in the southern and northern Gaza Strip left four Palestinians dead Wednesday morning, medical officials and witnesses said.

The witnesses said several Israeli army tanks and bulldozers, backed by aircraft, stormed an area east of the village of Abbassan east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, amid intensive gunfire from local militants.

Israeli aircraft launched two strikes on the gunmen, killing two of them.

An Israeli military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said the troops were on a "routine" operation against militants launching missiles at southern Israel. Airstrikes were called in against gunmen approaching the Israeli troops, she said.

One fatality belonged to the military wing of Hamas, and the second to the Islamic Jihad, both groups announced. They said their militants had launched homemade mortars, detonated roadside bombs and hurled hand grenades at the Israeli army forces.

In the northern Strip, meanwhile, two militants were shot dead and two more wounded in clashes north-east of Jabalia, as Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered the area.

An military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said she was checking this report. (dpa)