Eight killed as Israeli tanks move deeper into Gaza

DOZENS of Israeli tanks pushed deep into the Gaza Strip and aircraft fired missiles at Palestinian militants yesterday in heavy fighting that mirrored the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

Palestinian officials said an eight-year-old boy was among eight people killed in the Israeli offensive.

Fighting on two fronts — against Islamic militants in Gaza and in southern Lebanon — Israel had one of its heaviest days of fighting since Hamas militants captured a soldier from an Israeli army post near the Gaza frontier more than a month ago.

About 50 tanks, accompanied by bulldozers, pushed into an area close to the Gaza-Egypt border before dawn, taking up positions near the long-closed Gaza airport, residents and Palestinian security officials said.

The forces advanced about five miles, the farthest into south Gaza they have gone since the offensive started in late June, blocking a main highway and the eastern entrance to Rafah, on the Egyptian border.

As the tanks took up positions, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at groups of gunmen, killing four.

The strikes wounded 26 Palestinians, at least 10 of them militants, security and hospital officials said.

Forces later fired a tank shell at residents gathering in the area after daybreak, killing an eight-year-old boy and wounding three people, including a four-year-old girl. The bodies of three more dead people were brought to the hospital early yesterday, but they were not believed to be militants.

Rafah Governor Zuhdi al-Qudra said Israeli forces had taken over the roofs of houses near the airport and medics were still unable to get to areas where casualties were reported from earlier fighting. He pleaded for the international community to help stop Israel’s offensive.

The Israeli army confirmed there were troops in the area around the airport, but said they were not impeding the work of medics.

Seventy-five families, comprising 475 people, fled the combat area to a school run by the United Nations Works and Relief Agency — the third time in a month the school had been opened to refugees, said Khaled Ashour, UNWRA’s area operations assistant.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after a June 25 cross-border raid by Hamas-linked militants who tunnelled into Israel and attacked an army post, killing two soldiers and capturing a third.