Israeli strikes and raid kill 5 Palestinians

Israeli air strikes in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Tuesday killed a Palestinian youth and a farmer, medical workers said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said one air strike in the northern Gaza Strip hit a rocket launching crew that had just fired at the southern Israeli town of Sderot.

Palestinian medical workers said militants had fled the area just before the air attack and that a youth was killed.

A second strike in the central Gaza Strip killed a farmer and wounded two other Palestinians, hospital officials said.

The military spokeswoman said militants planting explosives near the fence that Israel has erected along its Gaza border were hit in the attack.

Egypt has been trying to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas to end Gaza border violence.

Rockets fired from the Gaza Strip have killed two Israeli civilians this month in agricultural communities close to the frontier.

Israel frequently carries out raids and air strikes in the territory as part of what it describes as efforts to curb cross-border rocket fire.