Annan condemns Israeli raid on refugee camp

NEW YORK - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday condemned a fresh Israeli assault on a Palestinian refugee camp and urged the Jewish state to better protect civilians and return to peace talks.

"The Secretary-General reiterates that Israel, as the occupying power, must protect the civilian population and desist from using disproportionate force," UN chief spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

"He strongly urges the government of Israel to refrain from such violent actions and return to peaceful negotiations with its Palestinian partners according to the quartet's road map," Eckhard said, referring to the Middle East peace plan set out by the quartet of international mediators -- the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations.

Eckhard spoke with reporters after Israeli troops and tanks swept into the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, killing eight Palestinians and wounding at least 40 just hours after Israel lost two soldiers in an ambush in central Gaza late Monday.

The two were the first Israelis killed in a month in the region, but the army said Tuesday's raid was not in response to the ambush.

Palestinians said about 20 Israeli tanks rumbled into the refugee camp overnight, drawing fire from militants. More tanks, firing machine guns, moved in during the day.

Israeli soldiers killed a 50-year-old man and two gunmen in the camp, medics said, adding another Palestinian was shot in the stomach and died in a hospital.

One militant was brought dead to the hospital still clutching a bomb, witnesses said. Another died of shrapnel wounds. A Palestinian policeman was shot near the border post and an onlooker was killed as he watched tanks at his window.

Annan "strongly condemns" the incursion, which had killed and wounded many civilians and destroyed several houses, Eckhard said. Many children were among the wounded, he added.

- REUTERS