Israel continues deadly Gaza raid, kills six
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-02 15:02

The Israeli army killed six militants Saturday in and near the northern Gaza Strip, bringing to 43 the number of Palestinian deaths in one of Israel's deadliest assaults on the area.

About 200 tanks and armored vehicles continued to operate in northern Gaza during a massive raid the army launched on Tuesday to root out militants firing rockets at Israeli towns, which has killed gunmen as well as civilians.

An Israeli soldier sleeps atop a Merkava tank, outside Kibbutz Mefalsim in Israel prior to their incursion to the Gaza Strip. Around 100 Israeli tanks were seen moving deep into the northern Gaza Strip.[AFP]

The operation, codenamed "Days of Reckoning," followed the killing of two small Israeli children Wednesday by a rocket in the border town of Sderot, a frequent target of such attacks.

In a rare incident, troops killed four Palestinian militants as they crossed the Gaza border into southern Israel. The army said soldiers had learned of gunmen planning to attack a town in the area and that the men had shot at troops, who shot back.

The army said all four men wore explosives belts.

In Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, an Israeli air missile killed two Islamic Jihad militants and wounded four others, medics said. Witnesses said a drone hovered over the area. The army said a group of gunmen were targeted.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his security cabinet ordered the army to carve out a "buffer zone" to halt the rocket strikes that have fueled criticism of his plan to withdraw Jewish settlers from the territory by the end of 2005.

Gun battles raged Friday through Jabalya, a militant stronghold home to 100,000 Palestinians. Israeli army bulldozers destroyed houses to clear paths for forces as troops made their way through the camp's booby-trapped streets.

Violence continued elsewhere in Gaza. A 60-year-old Palestinian civilian was killed in his backyard in Rafah refugee camp in the south of the coastal strip, medics said, by what witnesses said was Israeli gunfire coming from a nearby Jewish settlement. The army had no immediate comment.

Sharon's plan aims to evacuate all 8,000 settlers from Gaza, where they live in hard-to-defend enclaves among 1.3 million Palestinians.

The latest cycle of bloodshed has sent the prime minister scrambling to counter right-wing critics who say his U.S.-backed Gaza pullout plan has emboldened militants trying to give the impression Israel is being driven out.

Israel is determined to smash armed groups before leaving.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie called Israel's offensive "state terror that deliberately targets civilians" and urged international intervention.

A White House spokesman said Israel "has the right to defend itself," but urged both sides to promote a U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, currently stalled by violence.

The Islamic militant group Hamas, at the heart of a campaign of suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israelis, called the raid "all-out war" and vowed not to submit. Israel has pledged to continue fighting until all assaults are halted.

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