Israelis move deep into Gaza

Israeli troops seized suspected Palestinian weapons-makers in the deepest incursion into Gaza City in two years today and surrounded the West Bank hideout of the alleged mastermind of a shooting attack on a kibbutz.

Backed by about 30 armoured vehicles and three helicopters, soldiers stormed a two-storey home and seized four brothers of the Meqdad family on suspicion they manufactured and distributed mortar shells used in attacks on Jewish settlements.

At least two of the brothers were members of the Palestinian security services, the Israeli military said.

The Meqdad family lives just a few hundred yards from the home of leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

It was the deepest incursion into the city since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, and was also seen as a warning to Yassin and other Hamas leaders in the city that they are not out of reach of the Israeli security forces.

In southern Gaza, a two-year-old Palestinian boy, Hamid Masari, from the Rafah refugee camp was killed, and his mother Asma wounded yesterday when they were hit by fire from Israeli tanks patrolling Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.

The Israeli military said troops came under attack and returned fire with light weapons. It marked the second time in as many days that a Palestinian toddler was killed by army fire in Rafah.

In the West Bank town of Tulkarem, soldiers surrounded several homes in their hunt for Mohammed Naefe, the alleged mastermind of the weekend attack on a kibbutz that killed five Israelis, including a mother and her two little boys.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a militia linked to Arafat’s Fatah movement, has claimed responsibility for the shooting.