Abu Obayed warned Israel to either call off military strikes or "empty Sderot of its residents."

   Israel Defense Forces troops killed five Palestinians across the territories on Wednesday, including two civilians in the Gaza Strip. The IDF said only that troops in the city spotted two armed Palestinians and opened fire, hitting both of them. Earlier, troops killed two Hamas gunman over the course of an operation in the northern Strip aimed at countering rocket fire. One of the militants, belonging to the ruling Hamas group, was killed in the Jabalya refugee camp as he prepared to fire a Qassam rocket at Israel. An IDF soldier was moderately wounded and an officer lightly wounded by an anti-tank missile during the raid in northern Gaza. Palestinian officials said that IDF troops besieged a well-known Hamas lawmaker's house in northern Gaza and were engaged in ferocious gunbattles with militants. The officials said IDF snipers had positioned themselves on more than a dozen rooftops in Beit Hanun and Jabalya as the ground troops fanned out. (00,30)