Israeli tanks and bulldozers backed by attack aircraft moved into the southern Gaza Strip yesterday in the biggest operation in the territory since Islamic Hamas forces wrested control in June, setting off clashes with militants firing rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds.
An Israeli tank shell fired at a group of Islamic Jihad fighters killed three, while missiles fired from an aircraft killed two other militants, hospital officials said.
Schoolchildren ran through the streets of Khan Younis, let out early from school so they could take refuge in their homes.
Militants carrying land mines and other weapons dodged among houses and maneuvered behind the tanks to fire at troops. Others took cover behind trees, or covered themselves in leaves to camouflage themselves in open farmlands in the area of the fighting.
Tanks and bulldozers were about 1.5km deep inside southern Gaza, on the main road between the towns of Khan Younis and Rafah, and deployed over a 4km-long stretch of territory.
The military described it as a routine operation "against the terror infrastructure."
Residents and Hamas security forces said at least 30 tanks and bulldozers took part in the operation, but the military said only 10 tanks were sent in.
The area where the operation was taking place is a main launching ground for rocket and mortar assaults on army bases and the Israeli-controlled Sufa crossing into Gaza. More than 15 militants were killed in the area in recent Israeli airstrikes against rocket squads and Hamas fighters.
Soldiers took over the rooftops of several homes at the onset of the operation, which began around dawn, and detained more than 60 people in house-to-house raids, residents said.The Israeli military said they were taken into custody for questioning.
An Israeli tank was smoldering after it was hit by a Palestinian grenade. Two soldiers inside were slightly wounded, the military said.
In related news, Israel carried out two airstrikes early yesterday against armed Palestinians who approached troops in northern Gaza, the military said. The military said it identified two hits in the two separate assaults.
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