Palestinians hold funeral procession for Hamas militant killed by Israeli shelling

Dozens of Hamas militants on Wednesday held a funeral procession for a militant who was killed by an Israeli tank shelling into the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army said the shelling that took place on Tuesday, January 22 was a retaliation for the wounding of a soldier and a brief incursion during a violent Palestinian border protest.

Palestinian medics in Gaza said another two Hamas militants were hurt in the Israeli shelling of a lookout post near the fortified frontier in the central sector of the enclave ruled by the Islamist group.

Hamas confirmed the three Palestinian casualties as its members.

The border has simmered since Palestinians launched weekly demonstrations last March to press for the lifting of an Israeli-led blockade on the impoverished territory and rights to family lands lost to Israel in the 1948 war of its foundation.