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At least seven more killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza

Further Israeli strikes killed seven Palestinians in the north of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip early yesterday as the military continued a massive blitz against militants, medics said.

Three people, including one civilian and one Hamas militant, were killed in two separate strikes early in the day in the north, where Israeli ground and air troops were operating for a second day, they said.

Another two people were killed by gunfire near the northern town of Jabaliya, medics said.

Later yesterday, two Palestinians were killed when an Israeli tank shell crashed into a house in Jabaliya, which has borne the brunt of the fighting.

An Israeli army spokesman said that ground troops were continuing to operate in the north of Gaza and air strikes had targeted armed men, weapon manufacturing sites and warehouses throughout the territory.

Two women's bodies were pulled out from beneath the rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli strikes in Jabaliya the previous day, medics said.

By AFP estimates, yesterday's deaths brought to 70 the number of people killed by the Israeli military in Gaza since early on Saturday, the bloodiest operation in the territory since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000. Two Israeli soldiers have also been killed.

The dead have included seven children and nine women in addition to other civilians, medics said.

The Israeli air and ground blitz is aimed at halting rocket fire from the territory seized by Hamas more than eight months ago.

The rockets have killed 14 civilians inside Israel since 2000.

Since Israelis and Palestinians revived peace negotiations in late November, at least 303 people have been killed, most of them Palestinians, according to an AFP count.
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