Israeli army kills 4 trying to cross from Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops killed four Palestinian militants who attempted to cross through the perimeter fence from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, and in the West Bank arrested members of a Palestinian cell suspected in the killing of an off-duty soldier this week.

The army said in a statement that militants who killed Dvir Sorek, 18, outside a settlement near Hebron were arrested and the car they used in the attack was seized.

Israel’s Channel 13 TV report the suspects included two brothers from Hebron.

There was no immediate Palestinian comment.

The body of Sorek was found with stab wounds near his seminary, where he studied Talmud as part of a program combining military conscription with religious classes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised intelligence and security forces for locating and arresting the suspects.

“We will continue to fight terrorism intensely on all fronts,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

Hamas, the militant group controlling the Gaza Strip, accused the Palestinian Authority, its rival in the West Bank, of cooperating with Israel to identify the militants behind the killing.

“We have always warned against the security liaison between the Authority’s security in the West Bank and the occupation army,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said.

In Gaza, morning clashes along the frontier stoked fears of escalation after months of uneasy calm.

This was the highest number of Palestinians killed in a single day since May, when an unofficial cease-fire ended the worst bout of violence in years between Israel and Hamas.