Israeli tanks backed by helicopters moved into Gaza city early on Thursday, killing 13 Palestinians, including a two-year-old baby, in a gunfight, witnesses said.
Residents of the Shajaia neighbourhood outside of Gaza City said Israeli troops raided the area after midnight and laid siege to the house of the family of a member from Hamas, named Yusuf Abu Hein, known as a bomb-making expert.
After a 15-hour standoff and fierce gunbattles, Israeli soldiers stormed the house where three Hamas members were holed up and killed them. Earlier, soldiers called on family members inside to leave the house, but they refused, witnesses said. The soldiers shot and killed Abu Hein and his two brothers.
Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops traded fire during the raid, which ended on Thursday afternoon.
13 Palestinians were killed in the gunfight, one of them a toddler who was struck by a bullet to the head, and 12 others were wounded, witnesses and hospital officials said.
An Israeli military source confirmed that an operation was carried out in Shajaia "against the terrorist infrastructure". The source said at eight soldiers were wounded in the battle.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the Gaza incursion as an "Israeli crime" aimed at wrecking the peace plan presented on Wednesday by the United States, United Nations (news - web sites), European Union and Russia.
In the West Bank, the Israeli army shot dead two Palestinians in Yata, south of Hebron. The Israeli army also arrested 12 men in operations in Nablus, Qalqiliyah, Hebron and Bethlehem.
In the West Bank village of Beit Sira, the Israeli army demolished the home of a Tanzim activist. (Albawaba.com)
