Street battle leaves 11 Palestinians dead

ISRAELI tanks and soldiers battled Palestinian militants in the streets of Gaza City before dawn yesterday in violence that left 11 Palestinians dead, including a suicide bomber who tried to blow up a tank, Palestinians said.

The Israeli forces said they were targeting Palestinian metal workshops that manufacture mortars and rockets. Twenty-five Palestinians were wounded, and electricity was cut to much of Gaza City, the largest Palestinian city with some 300,000 residents.

The fighting began after 40 tanks charged into the city’s Shajaiyeh neighbourhood on Tuesday night.

Hours after the Israeli withdrawal, Palestinian militants in northern Gaza fired three rockets at the nearby Israeli town of Sderot.

A 35-year-old Israeli man suffered serious head injuries, the army said. No group claimed responsibility, though Hamas has frequently carried out rocket attacks in the area.

Seven of the Palestinians killed were militants or members of the security forces, and four were civilians, according to Palestinian hospitals.

It was the highest death toll in a single Israeli operation since January 26, when 12 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli invasion in another part of Gaza City.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians, as the soldiers conducted house-to-house searches.