Witnesses said fighting broke out between the Israeli soldiers and local fighters when Israeli armored cars rolled into the village. The troops were backed by helicopter gunships.

Local media said the two Palestinians killed belonged to the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad.

On Thursday night, Israeli warplanes carried out several airstrikes across the Gaza Strip in what Israeli military said was a response to the launching of a homemade rocket earlier this week. No injuries were reported in the attacks, but the missiles set several farmyards ablaze in Al-Faraheen, witnesses said.

The warplanes also fired several missiles at a location the Israeli military said the Al-Qassam Brigades used as a training base. Al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

Israeli military sources said the warplanes also bombed three tunnels — two in the south and one in the north. The tunnels had been dug a kilometer away from Gaza's border with Israel, the sources added.