February 20, 2003	Thursday	Zul Hijjah 18, 1423

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GAZA, Feb 19: Israeli troops, backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, killed 11 Palestinians and wounded 27 during raids on militant strongholds in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night.

In bloodshed which further undermined US. hopes of calm in the region before a possible invasion of Iraq, Israeli troops also thrust into the West Bank city of Nablus. Witnesses said they killed two Palestinians and imposed a curfew on its old centre.

A car later exploded in Jenin, another city in the northern West Bank, killing a militant affiliated with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction and injuring three other men, witnesses said. The cause of the explosion was unclear, but it bore the hallmarks of an undercover Israeli killing.

At least 25 Palestinians have been killed since militants blew up a tank on Saturday, killing four Israeli soldiers.

The surge of violence threatens new efforts to arrange a ceasefire in almost 29 months of violence since the Palestinians rose up seeking an independent state in Gaza and the West Bank.

Palestinian officials said the raids would damage diplomatic efforts to revive peacemaking, including talks in London on Palestinian reforms demanded by international peacemakers.

Marchers at a funeral in Gaza, attended by about 60,000 people, vowed revenge and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the Hamas, declared: “The enemy will pay the price for its crimes and will never escape punishment.”

HEAVY FIGHTING: Israel vowed to intensify operations against militants after the landmine blast that gutted an Israeli tank and killed its four crew on Saturday. Hamas said it blew up the tank to avenge the army’s killing of two militants a few days earlier.

Fierce fighting erupted on Tuesday night after Israeli armour rolled into Tufah , a central district in Gaza City where support is strong for militants.

Local security sources and hospital officials said seven Palestinians were killed in Tufah — two militants, a security officer, a medic and three people in a collapsed house.

Witnesses said the house caved in when Israeli troops blew up two metalworks the army said produced munitions.—Reuters