GAZA, Nov 4: Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday in air strikes and clashes, rescue workers said, and the army briefly eased its grip on a town at the centre of a major offensive.

One of the gunmen was killed in battles with Israeli soldiers backed by tanks near the northern town of Beit Hanoun, witnesses said. Suspected militants fired anti-tank rockets at troops, they added. One soldier was seriously wounded, the army said.

As darkness fell on Saturday, troops began house-to-house searches for suspected militants, local residents said.

The violence came a day after Israel killed 17 people, about half of them civilians, including two women in Beit Hanoun.

Israel says the operation, one of the biggest since the army and Jewish settlers pulled out of Gaza last year after 38 years of occupation, aims to halt rocket fire at the Jewish state.

The violence has scuttled hopes of any resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, already a remote prospect since the Hamas militant group took power in March following elections.

“We cleared the settlements. The army left. The terrorists are just hurting themselves, hurting Gaza and the Palestinians,” Israeli vice-premier Shimon Peres said on Israel Radio.

Among the dead on Saturday were two Hamas militants, killed in a missile strike near the Jabalya refugee camp, medical officials said. The army said it was checking the report.

Some 14 Palestinians had been wounded in various strikes and clashes, hospital officials added. An 18-year-old civilian wounded by Israeli gunfire earlier on Saturday, later died in hospital, medical workers said.

Israeli forces have killed 40 people in the four-day assault, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Beit Hanoun, home to some 30,000 Palestinians, has been under an effective curfew since troops moved in, residents say. On Saturday, soldiers using loudspeakers told residents women had two hours to go out and buy food, witnesses said.

An army spokesman said troops had not seized Beit Hanoun.—Reuters