Israeli air strikes kill five Gaza militants

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli air strikes killed five Hamas gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, hours after militants from the Islamist group drove bomb-laden vehicles into an Israeli border crossing.

While violence raged, Hamas engaged in an internal debate over proposals by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter for a unilateral ceasefire with Israel and greater political flexibility, Palestinian politicians said.

Carter, who had talks in Damascus with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, demanded the group stop firing rockets into Israel while he pursues efforts with Israel and the West to lift a blockade on the Gaza Strip, politicians familiar with the discussions said.

Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction and opposes his U.S.-brokered peace negotiations with Israel.

In the northern Gaza Strip, four Hamas militants were killed when an Israeli aircraft fired at a group that approached the border fence with Israel, an Israeli army spokesman said.

A fifth militant was killed in a separate air strike near Jabalya refugee camp, Hamas said.

Earlier on Saturday, three Hamas militants were killed and 13 Israeli soldiers wounded in a bombing attack at Kerem Shalom in the southern Gaza Strip, the third major Palestinian assault in less than two weeks on border crossings.

A spokesman for Hamas's military wing said the attack marked the start of a campaign by the group to "break the siege", a reference to Israel's tightening of a Gaza blockade since the Islamist movement took power.