Local Hamas leader killed in Gaza

A local Hamas leader was among a group of at least seven Palestinians killed during a fierce gun battle with Israeli troops in northern Gaza today.

It was the deadliest violence in the town of Beit Hanoun since the Israeli army invaded the area early last week in an effort to prevent militants from firing homemade rockets into Israel.

Snipers took up positions on rooftops, shooting armed men and other suspicious figures, while helicopter machine-guns fired down.

Palestinian gunmen took to the streets to fight the troops.

The army said it had entered the centre of Beit Hanoun because rockets had been fired from the area.

Armoured Israeli bulldozers also destroyed dozens of olive and orange trees and razed land along the eastern side of Beit Hanoun.

Colonel Avi Levy, commander of the operation, said the agricultural areas had been used for cover by militants firing rockets.

“We are taking over the same areas that they use to fire from,” he said.

Five militants, including Hamas commander Nahed Abu Ouda, were killed, Palestinian officials said. A middle-aged man and a 35-year-old woman also died.

One Israeli soldier was seriously wounded, the Israeli army said. The army said it had killed or hit at least eight Palestinians.

Palestinian witnesses reported that there were dead and wounded lying in the streets of Beit Hanoun, but they could not be evacuated due to the fierce fighting.

The army raided Beit Hanoun last week after militants fired a barrage of homemade rockets at the Israeli border town of Sderot, killing two people, including a three-year-old boy.

Palestinian militants and the army said the homemade rockets had been upgraded to make them deadlier.

The new weapon could threaten Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza.