12 die as Israel launches massive offensive in Gaza

Israeli helicopters pounded the Rafah refugee camp with missiles and machine gun fire today, killing 12 Palestinians, at least seven of them armed, as troops searched houses in the largest Israeli offensive in Gaza in years.

Trapped residents said they huddled in the innermost rooms of their homes as bullets rained outside. Others tried to flee to safer ground. At least 34 Palestinians were wounded, including eight who were in critical condition.

Israel says it is targeting the Rafah refugee camp, on the border with Egypt, to destroy arms-smuggling tunnels and hunt Palestinian militants.

Security officials said earlier this week the army also plans to widen an Israeli patrol road between the camp and Egypt, which would entail demolishing rows of nearby houses.

Last week, Israel destroyed about 100 houses near the patrol road, making more than 1,000 Palestinians homeless and drawing worldwide condemnation, including rare criticism from the United States.

The first phase of Israel’s offensive today focused on the Tel Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah, about two miles from the patrol road.

Bulldozers began tearing up a road to separate the neighbourhood from the rest of the camp, home to about 90,000 Palestinians, witnesses said. Soldiers backed by about 45 armoured vehicles went house-to-house in the neighbourhood.

Resident Mohammed Shaer, 39, said soldiers locked him, his wife and five children in one room as they searched the building. He said he heard heavy firing outside, and that no one dared approach the windows.

Twelve Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire – 10 in two separate missile strikes, and two by machine gun fire. A 13th man was killed while handling explosives.

At least seven of the dead were armed, hospital officials said. Israel’s army chief, Lieut General Moshe Yaalon, said nine of those killed were militants, who fired from assault rifles.

At the beginning of the raid, a missile fired from a helicopter hit a group of gunmen outside a mosque in Tel Sultan, killing three. Two more missiles were fired, killing three more people who rushed to help. The mosque caught fire.

In another air strike, four Palestinians were killed, all civilians, according to hospital officials. Doctors initially said two of the dead were militants, but said they erred in the identification because two of the bodies were badly mangled.