GAZA, April 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli tanks shelled overnight Palestinians' houses in the southern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Khan Younis, injuring at least nine Palestinians, local security sources reported Sunday.

    The Israeli tanks suddenly opened heavy gunfire at the Palestinians' houses in the Al-Amal neighborhood, west of the refugee camp, they said.

    Among the nine Palestinians injured, two of them were children aged nine and seven and in critical conditions, they added.

    The attack came only a few hours after the assassination of Islamic resistance movement Hamas' leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was killed by Israeli Apache rockets targeted at his car in Gaza city.

    Rantisi, chosen as the Hamas leader in Gaza immediately after the assassination of the movement's spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on March 22, was popular in Kahn Younis where he grew up andworked as a pediatrician for many years. Enditem