"GUNMEN" KILL "MILITANT" AND PREGNANT WOMAN

Five bystanders killed in Gaza shootings: medics.

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian gunmen killed five bystanders in two separate shooting incidents in the Gaza Strip on Sunday as tension between rival factions in the impoverished territory deteriorated even further. In the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis gunmen killed a pregnant Palestinian woman and another family member and wounded her husband and his brother, a Hamas militant, hospital sources said. Witnesses said gunmen, whose identity was unclear, shot at local Hamas leader Mohammad al-Ghalban as he was traveling in a car with family members after dark in the town. The motive for the shooting was not known, but local Hamas militia blamed rival Fatah gunmen and deployed in the streets as tensions rose. Ghalban and his brother, who was critically wounded, were being treated at a Gaza hospital, medics said. In a separate incident in Gaza City, three bystanders were killed in the crossfire as Hamas militants returned fire at unknown gunmen, local witnesses said. The three victims, all male, were pronounced dead at a Gaza hospital, medics said.