- GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed
10 Palestinians in military operations in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and
threatened a major ground sweep of the Hamas-run territory to stem rocket
fire.
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- Following a surge in the cross-border salvoes, Israeli
troops and tanks rolled into the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, touching
off clashes with local gunmen.
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- Israeli shelling killed a gunman from the Popular Resistance
Committees (PRC) militant group along with three bystanders, witnesses
said. An air strike killed a Hamas militant.
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- Earlier, Israel's air force attacked a car in nearby
Gaza City, killing its five occupants. They were identified as members
of the Army of Islam militant group.
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- At least 22 Palestinians were also wounded in the fighting,
among the fiercest in Gaza since Hamas Islamists seized control of it in
June.
- Israel, which last week declared Gaza an "enemy
entity" because of the continued short-range rocket fire, signaled
that it could soon order invasions of areas used for the launches.
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- "We are getting closer to carrying out a widespread
operation in Gaza which, for many reasons, has not taken place in the past
weeks," Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Israel's Army Radio.
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- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has come under pressure
from residents of the Israeli town of Sderot, which was targeted by rockets,
and rightist politicians to crack down on Gaza, some of them arguing that
Hamas, which rejects the Jewish state's right to exist, is amassing arms
in the territory.
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- Several Israeli cabinet ministers have cautioned that
such a campaign could lead to heavy casualties among Israeli forces and
Palestinians in the coastal territory of 1.5 million people.
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- Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh denounced on Wednesday "a
new wave of Israeli aggression." Government spokesman David Baker
said Israel would continue to take "pre-emptive measures" to
prevent rocket attacks or other assaults on its citizens.
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- An Israeli military push into the Gaza Strip in the coming
weeks could complicate plans for a U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference
expected in November in the Washington area.
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- "It must be clear that an operation of this type
is not simple, not in terms of the forces and the amount of time which
we will have to stay there or in terms of the operational challenges which
the troops will have to meet," Barak said.
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- In Beit Hanoun, witnesses said Israeli shells struck
a house killing a PRC gunman and three civilians. A Israeli army spokeswoman
said soldiers fired at a group of Palestinians who were planning to attack
them with rocket-propelled grenades.
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- Asked about the air strike in Gaza City, a military spokeswoman
said it targeted an Army of Islam cell that was transporting rockets. In
Beit Hanoun, she said, the air force struck militants spotted near an area
used to launch rockets.
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- Israeli forces also shelled the Beit Hanoun electricity
transformer, causing a power blackout, residents said. The army said it
was not aware of the blast.
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- Gazan militants fired at least 12 rockets into Israel
on Wednesday. Such salvoes rarely cause deaths but have spread panic in
Israeli border towns, with government officials warning that their range
could be expanded to take in more communities.
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- After branding Gaza an "enemy entity," Israel
said it would reduce fuel and power supplies to the territory.
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- It has yet to take such actions, which U.N. officials
and human rights groups have said would violate international law pertaining
to occupied territories.
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- Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 after 38
years of occupation. Palestinians say the territory is still effectively
under occupation because Israel controls its borders, waters and air space.
Israel disputes this.
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- (Additional reporting by Ori Lewis and Jeffrey Heller
in Jerusalem)
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