Israeli forces storm Gaza refugee camp, teen killed

3.00pm

GAZA - Israeli forces stormed a Gaza Strip refugee camp on Monday (Tuesday NZT), killing at least one Palestinian in clashes, only hours after vowing to step up attacks on militant strongholds.

Palestinian medical officials said a 13-year-old boy was shot dead and around 20 other Palestinians wounded as gunmen traded fire with Israeli troops and tanks which rolled into Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza under cover of dark.

Clashes also spilled over into nearby Nuseirat refugee camp, witnesses said.

Israeli military sources confirmed that an operation was under way, the latest in an offensive launched last month in retaliation for a landmine planted by the Islamic group Hamas which gutted a tank and killed its four crewmen.

Hamas has also intensified cross-border rocket attacks on Israeli towns.

On Sunday the Israeli army killed two Palestinians in a similar raid, this time on Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza from which a Palestinian sniper shot dead an Israeli soldier last month.

Palestinian officials said Israeli gunfire also killed a nine-year-old Khan Younis boy later in the day.

Palestinians have voiced concern that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new cabinet, which includes opponents of Palestinian statehood, may use tougher tactics to try to quell a 29-month-old uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, despite a US pledge to press for Middle East peace after any war with Iraq.

"We will increase the pressure and operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This has already been happening over recent weeks," Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told reporters.

Hamas enjoys support in Bureij, but the camp is more identified with militants loyal to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

In Monday's operation, Palestinian witnesses said, Israeli undercover troops first spread through the camp on foot, marking the way for at least 35 tanks and armoured vehicles which followed with support from helicopter gunships.

In an area of Bureij known to house the families of Palestinian militants killed in attacks on Israelis, the army was heard calling through loudhailers on residents to come out.

This has been standard procedure when Israeli forces have demolished the family homes of militants in what it calls a deterrent tactic. Palestinians denounce it as collective punishment.

At least 1880 Palestinians and 706 Israelis have been killed since the uprising for statehood erupted in September 2000 after peace talks broke down.

Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat called Sunday's violence "a prelude to reoccupy all of the Gaza Strip, exploiting the world's preoccupation with the Iraqi crisis". However, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, replacing Benjamin Netanyahu, now finance minister, pledged "to take advantage of every opportunity for peace with the Palestinians".

- REUTERS