BEIT HANUN (Gaza Strip), Nov 7: Israeli troops left Beit Hanun on Tuesday as eight people were killed elsewhere in Gaza, raising to more than 60 the Palestinian death toll in the beleaguered territory in a week.

Soldiers departed overnight from a town the military charged had become a launch pad for rocket attacks against Israel, repositioning elsewhere in the northern Gaza Strip and leaving behind scenes of destruction.

“We withdrew our forces from Beit Hanun after having completed our mission,” a military spokesman confirmed after daybreak.

Roads were left gouged out. Homes, two mosques and a school were destroyed. The historic old town was pockmarked with bullet holes and shell craters, electricity pylons ripped from the ground and sewage spewing in the streets.

Residents picking their way through the wreckage mourned their “martyrs”, eyes red with fatigue, filled with hate and tears, an AFP reporter said.

The army said troops had seized a large amount of weaponry.—AFP