Israeli fire wounds 17 at Gaza funeral

Seventeen Palestinians were wounded Saturday when Israeli forces opened fire at mourners in northeastern Gaza City, medical sources said.

The sources said the Israeli forces, on the security fence between Gaza and Israel, targeted hundreds of mourners who were heading to a cemetery near the fence to bury three Islamic Jihad fighters killed in an earlier Israeli raid.

Islamic Jihad militants who accompanied the funeral responded to the Israeli fire, sparking fiercer Israeli reaction.

Ambulance crews and civilian cars took the wounded to the hospitals.

Prior to the shooting, senior Islamic Jihad leaders headed the angry participants across Gaza streets to mourn for the three fighters killed on late Friday when Israeli aircrafts targeted their car on a Gaza City road.

Israel said the three militants were involved in previous rocket attacks against its southern territories.

It is the first Israeli airstrike on Gaza militants' car since the 22-day Israeli large-scale military offensive on Gaza that ended on Jan. 18.

Dozens of masked militants also attended Saturday's funeral, firing small arm and machinegun-fire in the air despite a Hamas order banning public arms display.