Israeli troops battle Hamas fighters in packed refugee camp

Israeli soldiers move armoured military vehicles along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)

Israeli troops have battled Hamas militants in a packed urban refugee camp as they expanded operations across northern Gaza, where residents have been without electricity, water or access to humanitarian aid for weeks.

The front line of the war, now in its seventh week, has shifted to the Jabaliya camp, a dense warren of concrete buildings near Gaza City that houses refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and their descendants.