Five dead as Israeli forces enter Gaza towns

Israeli troops and tanks searching for militants today charged into Palestinian areas at the northern and southern ends of the Gaza Strip before dawn.

Five Palestinians were killed, dozens were injured and several were arrested, Palestinians said.

The Israeli actions were similar to wide-ranging sweeps carried out on Friday in the West Bank and Gaza, in which eight Palestinians were killed and about 50 were arrested.

In New York, the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution backed by the Palestinians, which condemned terror acts and called for an end to the Mideast violence.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, said the measure was aimed at isolating Israel politically.

In Gaza today, more than a dozen Israeli tanks, accompanied by armoured personnel carriers, entered the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun at the northern tip of Gaza, next to the border with Israel, witnesses said.

The Israeli military, which described the area as a stronghold for militants, announced by loudspeaker that the town was under curfew. The military said its forces came under fire and shot back.

Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in Beit Hanoun, including a 12-year-old boy, according to witnesses and Shifa Hospital in nearby Gaza City. The dead also included a Palestinian police officer whose car was hit.

Four fellow officers in the car were wounded. Overall, about 40 Palestinians were injured in the town, hospital doctors said.

The military said five Palestinians were arrested, while Palestinians put the number at 10.

The Israelis demolished several houses, including one belonging to the founder of the armed wing of the militant group Hamas, Salah Shahed. However, he was not in the area at the time, witnesses said.

Also demolished were offices for Palestinian police intelligence and the local headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, witnesses said.

Israeli tanks moved on to the grounds of the Beit Hanoun Secondary Girls’ School, putting up tents and raising an Israeli flag on one building, witnesses added.

At the southern end of Gaza, a Palestinian militant carrying grenades attempted to cut a fence and enter the Jewish settlement of Gush Katif, but was shot dead by the Israeli military, the army said.

Afterward, Israeli tanks moved into Palestinian territory east of the nearby town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, Palestinians said. One house and several farming fields were destroyed, the Palestinians added.

Palestinian security forces in Gaza also shut down the offices of two newspapers, one belonging to Hamas, the other Islamic Jihad.

Ghazi Hamad, the editor of Hamas’ Al Risaleh newspaper, said he was considering legal action.

The daily violence may have put an end to the current round of cease-fire negotiations by U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni.

Zinni, who tried and failed to negotiate a truce deal over the past three weeks, left on Friday for Jordan and Egypt, and may go back to Washington.

US President George W Bush said Zinni’s job was being made tougher because Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s reluctance to round up ‘‘killers and people who would derail the peace process’’.

US officials in Jerusalem said Zinni’s mission was also complicated by Israel’s decision this week to cut ties with Arafat.

Zinni’s mission was accompanied by an upsurge in attacks by Islamic militants on Israelis, followed by Israeli reprisals. During Zinni time in the region, 63 Palestinians and 44 Israelis have been killed. The Palestinian toll included 29 assailants.

The latest round of reprisals was triggered by a bombing and shooting attack on an Israeli bus on Wednesday, carried out by the Islamic militant group Hamas. Ten Israelis were killed and 30 wounded in the attack.