Eight Palestinians die in Gaza clashes

Eight Palestinians were killed today in fierce fighting with Israeli troops in Gaza City, a Palestinian hospital official said.

The fighting apparently erupted when the army launched an operation near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, in the heart of the teeming Gaza Strip.

Palestinian militants fired anti-tank missiles and set off an explosive at the troops who fired back, the army said. Two Palestinians were killed in the incident, said Dr Moawia Hassan, a chief Palestinian hospital official.

Later, the army entered a Gaza City neighbourhood near Netzarim, and a fierce battle flared between troops and gunmen.

Six other Palestinians have been killed in that fighting, and several others were wounded, Dr Hassan said.

Gunmen, some of them with rocket launchers over their shoulders, ran past ambulance crews treating the wounded at the scene of the fighting. A group of boys took cover behind a tin shack as gunfire crackled down a street.