GAZA, Sept. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- A member of Izel Dein al Qassam, armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), was killed by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza Strip on Thursday.

    The group said in a leaflet signed that the militant, originally from the town of Jabalya, was killed as he was fighting with Israeli soldiers who raided the northern Gaza Strip area.

    The militant was killed near Beit Lahya before dawn, when an Israeli Apache helicopter opened fire with a machine gun on a group of people, said Palestinian security officials and local residents. Palestinian medics, meanwhile, noted that 15 Palestinians were injured since the beginning of the thrust in northern Gaza, where several buildings and agricultural lands in the area were razed and bulldozed.

    The Israeli army continued its operation aimed at preventing militants from firing missiles and mortars at Israeli targets. Israel's Army Radio said the troops reoccupied the northern Gaza Strip early Wednesday, isolated the villages of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia from each other, and isolated the two from Jabalya area.

    By Thursday morning troops from the Army's Golani and Givatiin fantry brigades had taken up positions in houses on the outskirts of Jabalya. Enditem