Fierce fighting reported in Gaza suburb

Israeli troops battled Palestinian gunmen in a suburb of Gaza City today in one of the fiercest ground battles so far as Israel’s military inched toward Gaza’s population centres and residents braced for an expansion of the offensive.

The fighting in the Sheikh Ajleen neighbourhood erupted before dawn and continued into the morning as Israeli infantrymen and tanks advanced toward Gaza City and its approximately 400,000 residents, Palestinian witnesses said.