BEIT HANUN, July 8: Seven Palestinians were shot dead and six Israeli troops wounded, including two colonels, during a major flare-up in violence in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
Medical and security sources said six of the seven Palestinians killed in heavy clashes in this northern Gaza Strip town were militants.
Four belonged to the radical Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, while two were senior fighters in the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements. The seventh was a woman civilian in her 30s.
An army spokesman said an Israeli soldier was critically wounded in the fighting. "As part of the ongoing operation in Beit Hanun, forces were operating on the outskirts of the town when Palestinians opened fire, critically wounding an Israeli soldier," the spokesman said.
The gunfight erupted when Israeli armor and troops pushed into the town centre, supported by two Apache helicopters which intermittently opened fire on the Palestinians, witnesses said.
At least 15 Palestinians were wounded in the incursion, two of them seriously. Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat blasted the raid, saying: "We firmly condemn Israel's crimes today in Beit Hanun and hold Israel responsible for their consequences."
Israeli troops swarmed into Beit Hanun 10 days ago in a bid to end the firing of Qassam rockets into Israel by Palestinian militants, shortly after one of the makeshift rockets claimed Israeli lives for the first time. Another five Israeli troops were wounded when an army jeep hit a roadside bomb near the Jewish settlement of Morag in the southern Gaza Strip. -AFP/Reuters
