Gaza City, May 16: A large number of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopters were still sweeping areas of the northern Gaza Strip today, a day after an incursion which left five Palestinians dead. According to Palestinian security sources and witnesses, around 70 tanks and armoured personnel carriers were operating inside Beit Hanun and parts of Jabalya town and Beit Lahia. Several suspected militants were arrested overnight and at least eight houses were demolished, the sources said.

At least 10 bulldozers were razing farmland from where radical militants have fired rockets on army positions, Jewish settlements and nearby Israeli towns.


The southern Israeli town of Sderot which lies just across the border, six kilometres from the centre of Beit Hanun, has often been hit by home-made Qassam rockets, although no casualties have been reported.


The Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the hardline Hamas group after which the rockets are named - issued a statement today morning listing overnight rocket and mortar attacks.

The head of Israel's southern command, which includes the Gaza Strip, said yesterday that Israeli forces would stay as long as it takes to prevent rocket attacks.


All the roads leading to the reoccupied sectors were cut by roadblocks, mounds of sand or trenches.


Five Palestinians, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed yesterday when Israeli troops raided the area and in related violence which lasted most of the day.
Bureau Report