KHAN YUNIS (Gaza Strip), Oct 7: At least 14 Palestinians were killed on Monday after dozens of Israeli tanks, backed by helicopters, invaded the Gaza Strip, hampering efforts by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to ease the two-year conflict in meetings with leaders from both sides.

In the raid on the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis, eight Palestinians were killed by a single missile fired from a helicopter gunship.

A total of 136 were wounded, and with around 12 in critical condition the toll was likely to rise, medics said.

Two of the dead were killed in clashes that continued after the Israeli army pulled back into a Jewish settlement built just a few hundred metres from the Palestinian town, a frequent flashpoint for gunbattles.

Bloody Israeli forays have increased in the Gaza Strip, stronghold of the Hamas movement, since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon secured almost total control of the West Bank, invaded in June after a spate of suicide bombings.

Israeli tanks stormed into Khan Yunis in the small hours of Monday with their cannons and machineguns blazing, while accompanying helicopter gunships fired missiles and machineguns.

Israeli public radio said that bulldozers took part in the operation, which included 40 tanks.

Around four hours later, the Israeli forces returned to their base in nearby Gane Tal settlement.

Hospital officials said eight people were wounded when a tank shell and machinegun fire hit a hospital after the raid.

The assault on Khan Yunis came after a home-made Palestinian rocket was fired at a Jewish settlement in the northern Gaza Strip without causing any injury or damage, the Israeli army said.

The army said its operation was launched to destroy “terrorist infrastructure” in an area known to be a stronghold of Hamas, which makes the Qassam rockets.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said recently he would hit Palestinian groups based in the Gaza Strip, a densely populated region sealed off from the world and where Hamas and its smaller rival, Islamic Jihad, have their strongholds.

Around 15,000 people turned out in Khan Yunis for the funerals of the first 12 people killed, even as more were dying in hospital of their wounds.

“The Palestinian Authority condemns this ugly massacre which is part of preparations to reoccupy the Gaza Strip,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said.—AFP