JERUSALEM (CNN) — Israel hit militant targets in southern Gaza with a tank attack and at least five airstrikes on Thursday in response to what it called an “escalation” in rocket attacks against Israel.

An Israeli tank fired a shell into a house, killing five Palestinian militants and two civilians, according to Hamas security sources.

Israel Defense Forces said the tank attack came after Palestinian militants fired on Israeli troops operating in Khan Yunis, near the Israeli-Gaza border, sparking a gun battle. The militants then ran into a nearby house for cover.

IDF had no information on casualties, but Hamas security sources confirmed two civilians in the house were killed. They said the five militants killed were members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The media repeatedly refers to “civilians” being killed or injured during conflicts with terrorists. If, as in this case, two “civilians” were killed in the same house as five terrorists, what were they doing there? How could they possibly be non-combatants if they were sharing a house with combatants? If they were cooking and cleaning, or any other activity in that house besides being catatonic, they were aiding and abetting, which makes them combatants, not “civilians”.

Anyone giving the slightest support to terrorists is a combatant and a fair target. Lets have an end to referring to these people as “civilians”. They’re not. They’re combatants, and it is a disservice to all Americans and an unpatriotic act for our media to sugar-coat the truth of this.

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