GAZA, July 26 (Reuters) - Israel launched an air strike during a ground raid into the Gaza Strip on Thursday and a Palestinian gunman of the Hamas Islamist group was killed, a military spokesman, medics and Hamas sources said. An Israeli military spokesman said an Israeli aircraft fired at a gunman spotted holding a rocket-propelled grenade while the troops were on a raid in southern Gaza to prevent rocket firings against the Jewish state.

Hamas sources said the group's gunmen had fired grenades at Israeli forces on the raid that took place near a key Gaza crossing. The troops fired back, killing one gunman from the group that seized control of Gaza last month.

Witnesses said Israeli troops backed by tanks and bulldozers had launched the incursion.

Four Palestinian gunmen died in two separate Israeli shootings at militants firing rockets at Israel from northern Gaza on Sunday.

AlertNet news is provided by