An attempted kidnapping and mass murder attack by Palestinian terrorists — killing civilians in cold blood — and the mainstream wire services are scraping the bottom of the euphemism barrel to avoid using the dreaded — and obviously appropriate — T word: Nine killed as Gaza militants storm Israeli border.

They’re “commandos.” They’re “militants.” They’re “fighters.”

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Two Israeli civilians and seven Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in an explosion of violence around the Gaza Strip border after Palestinian commandos stormed into Israel. …

The dead Palestinians included both militants and civilians, one of them a teenage boy.

The Israeli army said Palestinian fighters breached the border near the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, which provides Gaza with its fuel supplies, and moved into Israel under the cover of a barrage of 15 mortar rounds.

The militants killed two Israeli civilians in their 30s, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service, in what the army called a “failed abduction attempt.”

A military official said the militants opened fire at short range at the two Israelis who were working at the terminal, located east of Gaza City.

Islamic Jihad and two smaller militant groups claimed responsibility.