one of its soldiers had been killed in Gaza earlier in the day,
bringing the total number of soldiers dead in the fighting to
at least 33 as the Palestinian death toll rose to 838.
The army identified the soldier as Yair Ashkenazy, 36,
saying he was killed "earlier today during operational
activity in the northern Gaza Strip."
Since the beginning of Israel's land invasion of Gaza, 33
Israeli and soldiers have been killed, according to the army.
Palestinian militant groups have announced that they have
killed several more soldiers, claiming that the Israeli army
has not admitted the deaths of a handful of its troops.
Meanwhile, at least 41 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza
Strip in Israeli shelling from air, land, and sea on Friday.
Two Palestinians died in artillery shelling on eastern Khan
Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
20-year-old Palestinian Jihad Hassan Hamad was also killed
in Israeli bombing on Rafah.
Imad Abu Kamil, 20, was killed in an Israeli attack on al-
Mughraqa in central Gaza, health ministry spokesman
Ashraf al-Qidra said.
Meanwhile, seven bodies were pulled from rubble in the
Shujaiyya area near Gaza City on Friday.
The bodies show signs of decay, indicating that the people
were likely killed during Israeli forces' massive shelling and
bombing of Shujaiyya last Sunday.
Two more bodies were pulled from the al-Zaytoun
neighborhood of Gaza City. They were identified as
Muhammad Yassin Siyam and Rami Muhammad Yassin.
In an initial count, 66 Palestinians were killed during what
has been dubbed the "Shujaiyya massacre" on July 20, but
several more bodies have been found since then.
Gaza militants continue to launch attacks
Meanwhile, Hamas said it had fired three rockets at Israel's
main airport, a day after US and some European airlines
had resumed flights after a two-day suspension.
"At 11:45 am, the Qassam Brigades bombarded Ben Gurion
airport with three M75 rockets," a statement from Hamas's
armed wing said.
EU and US authorities had ordered all commercial flights
suspended after a rocket struck near runways on Tuesday,
briefly shutting Israeli air links to the outside world in what
Hamas claimed as a "victory" in a deadly conflict now in its
18th day.
Additionally, the al-Qassam Brigades said they targeted
Ashdod with five grad missiles, Tel Aviv with 5 rockets and
an M75 missile, and Ashkelon with five grad missiles.
Fatah's al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for targeting
Beersheba and Ashdod with three grad missiles.
And the Popular Resistance Committees' al-Nasser Salah al-
Din Brigades said they had targeted Israeli towns near Gaza
with 70 missiles.
Rockets from Gaza have killed two Israeli civilians so far,
one of whom was volunteering at an Israeli military site.
Another rocket killed a Thai migrant worker on Wednesday.
AFP contributed to this report.
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