Militants traded fire with Palestinian security forces in downtown Gaza City during morning rush hour yesterday, after a car carrying armed men refused to stop for a police inspection, witnesses said.
One civilian was killed and 17 people were hurt, Palestinian officials said.
The confrontation raised new concerns about growing chaos in Gaza. It erupted despite a pledge by rival Palestinian factions to accept the authority of the security forces.
The internal fighting came as Israel launched a new campaign in the Gaza Strip, killing at least six Palestinians and wounding 27 in a series of air strikes that began late Tuesday. Troops also raided the Rafah refugee camp and demolished seven houses, Palestinian security officials said.
Israel's offensive came in response to a double suicide bombing at the Israeli port of Ashdod earlier this week in which 10 Israelis were killed. Israeli security officials have also said they want to strike hard at militants ahead of a possible Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Yesterday's confrontation in Gaza City began when a carload of gunmen from the Hamas group refused to halt for an inspection at a Palestinian police roadblock in the center of the city, Palestinian security officials said.
The militants then threw hand grenades, killing one civilian and injuring 17 others, the officials said.
Police chased the car, and officers with red berets ran across an empty lot and up an alley to try to outflank the gunmen. The sound of wailing ambulance sirens and bursts of automatic weapons fire mingled with the honking horns of gridlocked cars.
Many of those hurt were members of security forces under the leadership of Yasser Arafat's cousin, Moussa Arafat.
Palestinian security forces have stepped up car inspections in recent days and beefed up their presence in the streets, as part of a new security plan that has won the tentative backing of rival factions.
However, it remains unclear whether the armed groups will accept the centerpiece of the plan -- a ban on carrying weapons in public.
In fighting elsewhere in the strip, Israeli forces raided the Rafah refugee camp early yesterday, killing at least three people in a pair of missile strikes.
The army said it entered the camp to uncover tunnels used by Palestinians to smuggle arms from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. During the searches, Palestinians fired grenades, anti-tank missiles and bombs, it said. No Israeli casualties were reported.
When a group of gunmen tried to place a powerful bomb along a road being used by the military, an Israeli helicopter launched one missile at them, possibly detonating the bomb, military sources said. Two people were killed.
Later yesterday, a helicopter fired a second missile at a crowd of people that approached soldiers, killing at least one person.
Residents said the crowd included armed militants as well as civilians. They said two people were killed. But hospital officials confirmed only one death -- an unarmed 14-year-old boy -- and said five others were wounded.
The raid in Rafah came after a helicopter strike Tuesday evening killed two Palestinians and wounded 14, including a 2-year-old girl. The Israeli military said the building destroyed in the Tuesday missile strike housed "Islamic Jihad terrorists, involved in attacks against Israelis."
RSS