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Tanks enter Gaza refugee camp
19/07/2006 10:16 - (SA)
Gaza City - Five Palestinian militants were killed after Israeli tanks moved into the Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza early on Wednesday under cover of machine gun fire, the latest incursion in Israel's three-week military push in the seaside territory.
Residents said 30 Israeli armoured vehicles were in the camp by sunrise. Soldiers took over several rooftops as bulldozers levelled farmland. The Israeli military confirmed that an operation was in progress.
Palestinians said four militants were killed and five wounded in clashes. In an Israeli air strike after sunrise, one militant was killed and four were wounded, two critically, hospital officials said. Five Israeli soldiers were injured, two seriously, the military said.
Two houses hit
Also, 14 people, including children, were wounded when tank shells hit two houses in the camp, hospital officials said. The Israeli army spokesperson denied that any tank shells were fired in the area.
A total of 52 people were wounded in the incursion, the hospital officials said.
The camp, with 22 000 residents, is near the Gaza-Israel fence and across from the Palestinian town of Deir al-Balah.
Israeli forces operated in the region late last week before withdrawing.
Other operations
Israeli troops have also swept through southern Gaza and carried out two invasions of northern Gaza, trying to stop militants from firing rockets at Israel.
The move into Mughazi - that extended about one kilometre into the Gaza Strip - was preceded by several hours of tank movements on the Israeli side, as well as exchanges of fire between soldiers and Palestinian gunmen.
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