Palestinians inspect the damage to a mosque in Gaza City after intense fighting in the Gaza Strip Wednesday. (Mahmud Nassar, Maan Images)

The Israeli army attacked a series of targets throughout the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing at least 19 Palestinians including a Reuters cameraman, medical officials said. Three Israeli soldiers died in separate fighting.

The bloodshed marked a sudden spike in violence in Gaza, which had experienced a relative lull since Israel ended a broad offensive in the area in early March. The Israeli army often operates in Gaza to prevent Palestinian militants from firing rockets into southern Israel.

In the deadliest incident, an Israeli helicopter fired four missiles at targets near the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. At least 11 Palestinians, including two youths, were killed, said Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Reuters cameraman, Fadal Shana, 23, apparently was killed along with two bystanders in an airstrike in the same area, according to his colleagues and medics.

Cameramen who rushed to the scene said they saw the Reuters jeep on fire, and Shana's body lying next to the jeep, alongside other casualties. They said Shana's jeep was marked as "press" and that the cameraman was wearing an identifying flak jacket.

As colleagues rushed toward Shana, another missile was fired, said Wissam Nassar, a photographer with the Maan news agency. "There was an airstrike. We were thrown back, myself and another person."

Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger called for an investigation.

"This tragic incident shows the risks journalists take every day to report the news. All governments and organizations have a responsibility to take the utmost care to protect professionals trying to do their jobs," he said in comments posted on the company's Web site.

"Our thoughts are with his family. We request an immediate investigation into the incident by the Israeli defense forces."

The army confirmed a helicopter had targeted a group of gunmen in Bureij; it did not have any immediate comment on the cameraman's death.

Dozens of Palestinian journalists went to the hospital where Shana was pronounced dead to pay their respects. In all, four journalists have been killed covering the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

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