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Twelve palestinians die as tanks enter gaza refugee camp Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6377165http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6377165
Twelve Palestinians, 3 Israelis Die in Gaza Violence
Thu Sep 30, 2004 08:10 AM ET
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Twelve Palestinians and three Israelis were killed Thursday as tanks thrust deep into the Gaza Strip's largest refugee camp for the first time after a rocket attack killed two Israeli children in a border town.
In one of Gaza's bloodiest days for months, gunmen shot dead an Israeli soldier and a woman jogger, and Israeli forces raiding the Jabalya camp killed at least six militants plus several civilians during fierce fighting.
The army's push into the militant stronghold in north Gaza came after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered troops to use all means necessary to put a stop to rocket fire that has persisted despite repeated Israeli raids and air strikes.
A Hamas rocket attack on the southern Israeli town of Sderot Wednesday killed two Israeli children, aged 2 and 4, as they played outside while visiting their grandparents on the eve of the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot.
The latest spiral of violence has sent Sharon scrambling to counter rightist critics who say his plan to withdraw troops and settlers from occupied Gaza next year has emboldened militants trying to give the impression that Israel is being driven out.
Israel's army appears determined to smash militant groups before leaving.
"The formula is clear -- blood for blood, bombardment for bombardment," a Hamas gunman said in Jabalya, where Israeli forces used tanks and armored bulldozers to clear a path into the crowded camp of 100,000 inhabitants.
It was Israel's deepest and strongest thrust into Jabalya's narrow street and alleys in four years of conflict -- a move the army had long avoided for fear that troops and armored would be vulnerable to militant attack.
Palestinians condemned the Israeli offensive, which intensified early Thursday when a column of tanks entered the camp and battled scores of armed militants.
"Israel is expanding its military operations in Gaza. This is a dangerous indicator which will lead to failure," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, an aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
PALESTINIAN AMBUSHES
Under cover of fog and darkness, two gunman from Hamas -- an Islamic faction behind a campaign of suicide bombings and sworn to Israel's destruction -- attacked an army position near Jabalya before dawn, opening fire and launching grenades.
One soldier was killed and two wounded before troops shot dead the militants.
Hours later, gunmen killed an Israeli woman as she went for a morning jog on a road connecting two Jewish settlements in northern Gaza, military sources said. Soldiers who rushed to the scene returned fire and killed one gunman, the sources said.
Israeli Radio said a second Israeli was also killed in the incident. Palestinian medical sources said a 60-year-old Palestinian was later killed by Israeli fire in the area, and a 27-year-old man was shot dead working in a nearby field.
Violence surged Wednesday when Palestinian militants eluding an army crackdown carried out the deadly rocket attack on Sderot, and troops killed nine Palestinians in raids in the coastal strip and the West Bank.
Two makeshift Qassam rockets hit a residential block in the town, close to Israel's fenced border with Gaza, killing a girl aged 2 and a boy aged 4.
"I saw one little child without his legs. We tried to help the other one but it was too late," said neighbor Haviv Ben Abbo, who rushed to the scene when he heard the boom.
Thirteen other residents were injured in the town that has borne the brunt of Qassam attacks, emergency services said.
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