December 12, 2007	Wednesday	Zilhaj 1, 1428

GAZA CITY, Dec 11: Six Palestinian were killed in Israel’s largest operation for months against the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the eve of the first Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations since a US summit.

Dual-pronged raids, backed by warplanes in the north and south of the Hamas-run territory, which encountered stiff resistance from Palestinian militants, wounded 15 Palestinians, medical officials said.

Five Palestinians were killed in southern Gaza where around 30 Israeli tanks pushed three kilometres into the sector, which local residents said was the deepest Israeli incursion since Hamas seized power six months ago.

An Israeli tank shell killed three members of Islamic Jihad — Mohammed Abu Hamra, Ibrahim Barud and Jihad al-Aswad, all in their 20s, the group said.

An Israeli air strike killed Omar Khalil, 23, from the armed Popular Resistance Committees in the south near Rafah, a town that straddles the Gaza-Egypt border.

Hamas activist Mahmud Abu Mustafa died in hospital following an Israeli air raid in the same area, while an Islamic Jihad fighter was killed in another such attack near Gaza’s northern town of Beit Hanun, Palestinian medics said.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed two air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning before operations in the area concluded.

“There was one air attack in southern Gaza Strip this morning. A squad of armed gunmen approached the forces there. In the south, it’s still ongoing,” the spokesman said.—AFP