Twelve killed in Gaza violence

ISRAELI troops stormed a Hamas stronghold yesterday and exchanged fire with dozens of masked gunmen in the most intense battle in Gaza in 31 months of fighting. Twelve Palestinians, including two children and a top bombmaker, were killed.

The violence came just a day after international mediators presented a new peace plan, the so-called "road map" to Palestinian statehood, and Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in as Palestinian prime minister. Abbas, an outspoken critic of violence against Israel, has said one of his priorities would be to disarm Palestinian militias.

The target of the raid was Yousef Abu Hein, a top Hamas bombmaker, but Israeli officials did not link the operation to a Hamas suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv pub in which a waitress and two musicians were killed on Wednesday. An adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel would not give Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, a grace period. "We can't wait until Abu Mazen gets his act together," said Sharon aid Zalman Shoval. "The faster he moves to halt terror, the quicker Israel will be able to halt these operations."

Palestinian officials accused Israel of trying to sabotage the road map, which Israel has not accepted in its current form.

The raid was meant to "create more provocation, to push for more Palestinian reaction to the Israeli aggression," Mohammed Dahlan, a senior Palestinian security official, said after Abbas chaired his first Cabinet meeting. Heading to the Middle East, Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday urged Israel and the Palestinian Authority to begin talks on the peace plan.

"We need to see the end of terror and actions on the Israel side as well," Powell said in Madrid.

The Gaza City raid began around 2 am yesterday with tanks, jeeps and undercover troops in passenger cars entering the Shijaiyah neighbourhood, a Hamas stronghold. More than 200 gunmen, many wearing black masks, rushed to the scene, and mosque loudspeakers called for a "jihad," or holy war.

The fighting continued into late afternoon. At one point, soldiers surrounded a four-story apartment building belonging to the Abu Hein clan, and ordered several dozen residents to get out. Yousef Abu Hein, 31, and two brothers, Ayman, 29, and Mahmoud, 38, remained inside, exchanging fire with soldiers. Troops blew up the building, and the three brothers were killed. The explosion was so powerful more than a dozen buildings were damaged.

After daybreak, hundreds of bystanders thronged the area. Eyewitnesses saw two boys, ages 12 and 14, getting hit by Israeli fire as they tried to run away from a burst of shooting. The 14-year-old was struck by a bullet in the neck, and doctors later said he was paralysed from the neck down.

Among those killed were eight gunmen, two adult civilians, including a mentally handicapped man, and two boys, ages two and 13, doctors said. Sixty-five Palestinians were wounded, including 15 who were critical.

Two-year-old Amer Ayad was hit by a bullet to the head while he was near a window in his home, said his father Ahmed, a blacksmith. "Is this the new peace President Bush promised?" Ayad said. "They wrote the answer using the blood of my son."

Eight Israeli soldiers were wounded, the military said. Despite the violence, there was some hope the peace plan will succeed in ending the fighting. The plan is supported by a rare global consensus that neither of the warring sides wants to rebuff.