GAZA, April 20: The Israeli army killed five Palestinians and wounded around 70, many of them civilians, in a pre-dawn raid on the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses and medics said on Sunday.

An Israeli military photographer was killed and three soldiers wounded during what an Israeli general described as intensive fighting in the crowded warrens of the camp.

Near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian who threw a petrol bomb at them, witnesses said.

Rafah residents called the assault by a 40-vehicle armoured force the most powerful Israeli push into the camp since the Palestinian uprising for statehood began 30 months ago.

The Israeli army mounted the operation amid Palestinian differences over security powers prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas has been trying to obtain from President Yasser Arafat in setting up a new government to pursue reforms demanded by peace mediators.

Mr Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, walked out of cabinet-formation talks in Ramallah on Saturday. He threatened to quit in the struggle with Mr Arafat over who would run Palestinian security services.

On Sunday, Mahmoud Abbas’s favoured candidate, former security chief Mohammed Dahlan, offered to withdraw his candidacy if it would help settle the differences with Yasser Arafat, a source close to the continuing cabinet talks said.

In the Rafah incursion, eight houses, including the home of Mahmoud Abu Shmallah, the leader of the Hamas in Rafah, were demolished, witnesses said.

“Rafah is an example of Israel’s goodwill gestures,” said Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi.

“Our people are convinced that Israel only wants agreements that serve their goals. Our people are choosing resistance,” he said.—Reuters