The Israeli army expanded its massive operation in northern Gaza, which has already left 112 Palestinians dead in the last two weeks, by moving into the town of Beit Lahiya overnight on Monday.
Colonel Eyal Eizenberg, commander of the elite Givati infantry regiment, said on army radio that his troops had met significant resistance as they moved into the town to the north of the Jabaliya refugee camp which has been the focus of Operation Days of Penitence since its launch late last month.
”Explosive charges were operated against us and we were also met with anti-tank rockets which hit one of our [armoured] vehicles,” said the colonel.
”There was also shots fired against our troops from the direction of mosques.”
The radio said the infantry troops and tank units had been provided with air cover by several army helicopters in the town.
Palestinian security sources had reported overnight that a member of the armed wing of the militant Hamas movement was killed and at least two other people were wounded when a helicopter fired a missile in Beit Lahiya.
Medics named the dead man as Mohamed Maaruf (25) a member of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the radical Hamas movement. The two injured were in moderate to serious condition, they said.
The operation, the deadliest offensive since the start of the Palestinian uprising four years ago, is aimed at putting an end to the firing of rockets from northern Gaza into southern Israel. Two children were killed in the border town of Sderot in late September.
While the firing of rockets from Jabaliya appears to have dried up, with no rockets attacks having been reported since the weekend, military chiefs believe that Hamas is now trying to turn Beit Lahiya into a launch centre.
A total of 112 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in Gaza since the launch of Days of Penitence. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is determined to deliver a crushing blow to Hamas ahead of its planned pullout from the territory next year. – Sapa-AFP