Ten Palestinians killed in troop raids

TEN Palestinians, including a four-year-old girl, were killed during Israeli swoops in the Gaza Strip yesterday that touched off fierce battles with gunmen, witnesses said.

The bloodshed in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and around the town of Beit Lehiya in the north was a fresh blow to US and British attempts to promote the prospect of Israeli-Palestinian peace as possible war in Iraq approaches.

Israeli infantry in armoured personnel carriers, backed by several tanks and attack helicopters, rolled into Nuseirat, a stronghold of the militant Islamic group Hamas, before dawn and left several hours later after demolishing a house.