ISRAELI tanks and troops swept through the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip early yesterday, killing a Palestinian gunman, damaging houses and blowing up suspected weapons factories.

ISRAEL’S defence minister has ordered a speedy investigation into recent killings of Palestinians, including at least eight civilians, by army fire, his office said yesterday.

Israel’s defence minister has ordered a rapid investigation into several recent killings of Palestinians by the army which have included at least eight civilians.

ISRAELI forces killed 11 Palestinians over the weekend, including two children in a helicopter raid, which led Israel’s president yesterday to call for an investigation into whether the army was “trigger-happy.”

Israeli helicopter gunships are reported to have killed five Palestinians, two of whom were children, in an overnight strike.

ISRAELI soldiers strapped a bulletproof vest on a Palestinian teenager and ordered him to approach a house where a wheelchair-bound Hamas militant was hiding, with instructions to bring out the man and anyone else inside.

Israeli forces killed a wheelchair bound Hamas militant in the West Bank today by blowing up his house and burying him under the rubble.

Two Palestinian militia leaders were killed in fighting in the West Bank today, including the suspected mastermind of last week’s Passover suicide bombing that killed 26 people and triggered Israel’s military offensive.